Oh! And Don spotted 1, lost, lone Mute Swan that was, in fact, being mute and trying to blend in so none of the other birds would tease him for being an escapee from some zoological collection (poor thing!).
When we'd had our fill of low country fowl, we headed east to see some fowl high country (you know what I mean). We drove to Loon Lake high on a mountain in El Dorado County - loads of snow to gawk at & so sunny we didn't even need jackets.
Periodically we stopped to listen for chickadees and such. At one spot Don shouted he'd found a White-headed Woodpecker. I hadn't seen one since Big Bear Lake, circa 1986. I had just seen Don waltzing across the thick snow, but I had a weird feeling I was in for Mother Nature's arse-whooping were I to try crossing the same snow. I trod along the white fluff and sure enough - WHOMP! My right leg plunged into the snow, up to my knee! Had to have Don help me dig myself out. Bugger. Oh well, important thing is I got my White-headed Woodpecker photos.
Ok, not the singularly most impressive woodpecker you've ever seen - plus it's a female so it lacked a red patch on the back of its noggin. T'wern't much more up there besides all sorts of people playing in the snow but we did squeeze in some chickadees, nuthatches and one Townsend's Solataire (think 'robin in grey pajamas').
