Getting back to normal for birds (and me)

Today was more like our usual Canon City weather after a snowstorm--temps got up to around 40 and the sun was shining, beginning the melt of the snow cover. Water at local ponds is starting to open up more, with additional waterfowl on the ponds.

My knee was a little better so I ventured out to several ponds and other local birding areas. I found the Common Raven in the bottom photo scavenging leftovers in a strip-mall parking lot. Though a fairly common bird in much of the U.S., they are an interesting species--quite adaptive to opportunities afforded by humans and a member of the very intelligent corvid family (along with such species as crows and jays)



I saw this male Canvasback, along with 4 others, at a local private pond. Though these birds can be seen throughout almost all of the U.S. seasonally, they are not very common around here.
SeEtta