Today is not only Valentines Day, but Day 2 of the Great Backyard Bird Count.  The Audubon Society and Cornell Lab of Ornithology join together for a weekend of citizen science, so the Nature Preserve joined them, as we have in other years. The Louisville Audubon Society is our sponsor, with great door prizes for those brave enough to come out in the cold and threat of snow – both of which arrived on schedule! Some of us counted birds from the warm bird blind in the Nature Center, while the true birders headed out into the horizontal snow.

We closely watched for the differences between Song Sparrows……White-crowned Sparrows……and the White-throated Sparrow, all of which clustered eagerly around the feeders outside the bird blind window.Lots of little Juncos hopped around, resembling blowing leaves on the ground.Brilliant Blue Jays stood out in the blowing snow……joined by both male and female Eastern Towhees. I don’t have anything more to say. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words!