"Hey baby it’s cold outside" just like the song says.
It was just warm enough today to start melting the snow that has built up on the cedar tree branches. The drops fell steadily on the pond’s surface and everything is damp. It’s the kind of cold that takes several hours to shake no matter how many blankets you use once you get indoors. It was perfect duck weather though and that meant it was perfect duck hunting weather for eagles. 
When I arrived there was a group of seven or eight Common Goldeneye ducks swimming nervously back and forth across the pond. I think they caught me trying to get into my blind and were uncomfortable about my presence. They did not take to the air right away though because they were far more uncomfortable about the two eagles who were in the area.
The eagles were clearly not looking for fish today. Appearing quickly from over the tree tops both the immature and mature eagle seemed to be hoping to surprise any unwary ducks that might be about. When they found no potential targets they only stayed long enough to make one or two circles around the pond before disappearing in the direction of another pond that is not to far away.
The only other birds I saw today was a lone Chickadee, one pair of Mallards and what I think was a Merganser who looked like he was going to land three different times but just couldn’t bring himself to do so. Part of my problem with seeing things today was that my great summer blind isn’t a very good winter blind. This means I got to spend most of the morning looking for a new spot to shoot from. I did manage to find a couple of potential locations but only time will tell if they'll work.
Even though it’s cold it’s still great to get outside whenever you get the chance. Stress test your winter wear, go out and play in the snow! Unless you live where its warm then I suppose you’ll just have to suffer with the heat (sorry but I can't feel sorry for you if that's your predicament....lol).Have a great day!
Kevin
Well I finally did it. With temperatures rising into the twenties I actually found the motivation to make my first winter trip to the Fish Pond.
While the lack of leaves and covering of snow create a completely new and interesting landscape they make it very hard to sneak into my photo spots. When I arrived there were about thirty ducks swimming around the pond but they saw me coming long before I got to my photo blind. When I got about halfway down the bank they took off en masse. All I saw of them was the white undersides of their flapping wings through the cedar trees that grow on the bank near my main blind.
Everything from the smallest mouse scurrying from hole to hole to the largest deer looking for food leaves its footprints in the snow.
Even though I didn’t see the ponds Muskrat I know they are still around since I found their tracks in a couple of different locations.
I was also happy and quite surprised to see the Kingfishers still about. One male appeared to be hunting near the pond’s inlet stream but after not finding lunch there he flew off in the direction of a neighboring pond. He returned in less than a minute with a second, very noisy, Kingfisher in hot pursuit. Apparently the cold weather does not do much to improve their willingness to share hunting spots.
Since there is a continuos flow of water through the pond I doubt that it will completely freeze over except on the coldest of days. This is great for me as it means that there will probably be quite a bit of wildlife spending time here through the winter and now that I have gone once I will have no excuse for not going again.
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