December 1st. Lots of water flowing from Raymond Brook at Old Colchester Road.

 

 

 

Lots of Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) at Cranberry Bog.

 

 

 

 

 

Check out that wake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

December 2nd. Sunshine on my back.

 

December 4th. A nice morning. Surprisingly I saw only two other people out.

 

 

 

 

 

Also surprisingly, this Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) was the only bird I saw until nearly back to Route 85.

 

 

 

 

 

Seen from the marsh, this large home with observation deck is at least a mile away.

 

December 5th. Twenty degrees and very frosty.

 

 

 

An afternoon walk east of Cook Hill Road in Lebanon. "Hi, my name is... Could you read the tag for me?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Domestic Pigeon or Rock Dove (Columba livia).

 

 

 

Down by the marsh, a sign of Spring: next years Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus).

 

The marsh is almost all cattails and reeds.

 

Cinnabar Polypore (Pycnoporus cinnabarinus). Thank you Terry Stolson for the ID.

 

 

 

Last night's thin ice hadn't all melted.

 

Clouds coming in. (A decent sunset as I drove back to Marlborough.)

 

Part of a large flock of House Sparrows (Passer domesticus). These seem to be females...

 

...and this is a male.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got to scratch this beast's forehead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

December 9th. Twenty-eight degrees, sunny but raw. Trail pretty bleak.

 

Full moon getting ready to set.

 

Thin ice crystals.

 

Wood Ear jelly fungus (Auricularia angiospermarum), some with a coating of frost.