What a difference a week makes. After days of rain and mild temperatures all our pretty snow is gone and everything is brown and grey.

Sea urchin? No, just some grass poking up through a puddle.

Those oaks sure are stubborn about hanging onto their leaves.

Anyone lose their specs?

Oops, pretend I posted this yesterday. Here's the list of birds I saw in the Beechwood area during 2007:

• black-crowned night heron



• double-crested cormorant



• cardinal



• seagull



• Canada goose (and a Canada/domestic goose hybrid)



• mallard duck



• red-winged blackbird



• goldfinch



• black-throated blue warbler



• robin



• black-capped chickadee



• belted kingfisher



• downy woodpecker



• hairy woodpecker



• song sparrow



• house sparrow



• red-tailed hawk



• mourning dove



• blue jay



• American redstart



• common yellowthroat warbler



• tree swallow



• mockingbird



• catbird



• brown-headed cowbird



• great egret



• cedar waxwing



• bittern (seen by Don Watcher)

Happy New Year and welcome to any faithful readers who are checking in after my long hiatus. I'm back with a wintry report from Beechwood Wetland.

We had a heavy, wet snowfall yesterday that turned everything white. Do not adjust your set: the world really was as monochromatic as these pictures. When the snow stopped I seized my camera and hurried down to the valley.

Things are pretty quiet around the ol' wetland:

Here's the pond:

As I fully expected, I ran into Don Watcher and Cup Plant:

Don Valley stewards: we never sleep.

See the mockingbird?

Let's get a bit closer:

Ah, there it is! I also saw a kingfisher, a gull or two, and the usual clusters of mallards. That reminds me, I haven't yet published my bird list from 2007. Tune in tomorrow!