Familiarizing with winter once again

Winter feels like it has arrived in Ottawa last week; and now, everyone (including myself and the animals) is getting used to the frigid temperature and icy/snowy road once again.  I have been very busy in November and December, mostly working on my research while maintaining some work-life balance.  Sadly, I have not taken as many pictures as I would like.

It was kind of sunny this afternoon, so I went out to the Arboretum and brought my camera with me.

One of the first birds I saw today - a Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens).

I saw many American Robins (Turdus migratorius) today - most of them were either trying to stay hidden/warm or finding food to eat.

A robin uncertain about its snowy surroundings.  Perhaps it might be time to migrate south.

A robin feeding on juniper berries.

Hello, handsome robin.

European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)

No need to worry about Eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis).  They know how to stay warm and what to eat during the wintertime, such as berries.

And maple seeds.

Such a cute creature.

I walked to Fletcher Wildlife Garden afterwards and saw many common winter birds, e.g., chickadees, juncoes, nuthatches, etc.  I also saw this single American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) on the feeder, which I thought was kind of interesting.

White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) taking a nut from the feeder.

A brightly-coloured Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) watching the feeder from a distance.

Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) picking off the fallen seeds.

Robins drinking from an unfrozen part of a stream.

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis), Great Black-backed Gulls (Larus marinus), and probably Ring-billed Gulls (L. delawarensis) on the mostly-frozen Dow's Lake.

There will be another heavy snowfall tonight and tomorrow.  Maybe that will convince some creatures that it's time to move further south.