Fitting Start

It's fitting the first bird heard and then seen in the new year is the black-capped chickadee. It's nasal call is welcome anytime of the year, but especially in the cold winter months. We had one individual raiding the seed-feeder in the front yard. Later in the day we decided to do a little birding and headed out to Decker Lake in serarch of cackling geese whose presence had been reported a few days ago. Found the geese and few other birds Decker, but the extremely mild weather has made winter birding unusually quiet. How quiet? Lee Kay ponds was completley empty of birds. A few starlings toiled in the fields next to the dump, but there was nothing in or near the water. We saw a raven and a northern harrier in near the Great Salt Lake Marina, which was also quiet, except for the gulls and killdeer.