G'morning Birders!

I love seeing the impressions birds leave in the snow to tell their story,
whether it's a junco meandering along the deck looking for random seeds or
"angel wings" gently touching the snow surface on take off.  One of my
favorite track tales I was fortunate to see take form several years ago.  A
grouse sprang up from its snow cover and left three sets of wing beats,
progressively shallower impressions with each stroke.  Its bulky body's
impressions indicated it took two strokes to get airborne.  To lighten the
load, it left a few gifts centered in the last track.

Yesterday, while sledding and making snow angels with a playful five year
old, we discovered another awesome track. It told the story of predator &
prey and filled us with wonderful possible scenarios. Situated on the outer
edge of a shrub that had only a few inches of clearance above the level of
snow, wings fanned out, almost in a  complete circle except for a gap at 6
and 12 o'clock.  The spacing between each bone perfectly spaced, it's
simple beauty  struck us both. It reminded me of lines on a protractor, or
 forked impressions meticulously arranged on the edge of a pie crust, or a
child's drawing of a sun with rays.  The center where the predator's body
barely made contact with the snow and the length of the radiating wings
immediately brought Shrike strike to mind and 12:00 marked the abrupt end
for an innocent foraging critter. We imagined  several scenarios before
returning to sledding.

Within minutes, the prone sledder, careening off course, cruised through
the garden, crushing the dried bee balm which released a delicious,
lingering scent before over running the bird track.  It erased all evidence
of a life ended and a captured and consumed meal ...leaving us with just
the memory of the discovery and this mystery to share.

Ali
Huntington