Boreal Chickadee

Poecile hudsonica formerly known as Parus hudsonicus.
Lately i have seen several of them in the Spruce forest around here in little groups.
This one has been at my bird feeder since last week, just one it seems.

Here's my rock that arrived here on an ice floe, in the days of Glacial Lake Champagne.
The other day i was dreaming of frozen waterfalls after seeing a post on 'Nature Remains'. And what do i find in my own yard today.... The whole South side of the rock is covered in ice, which probably happened when it was so warm here. In the meantime it has snowed and we are back to cold temperatures (-25 C earlier this afternoon). And this is the result.

The temperature is dropping again, but birds and squirrels don't care. They know spring will come. (which for us humans does take a while here in the North.)
This morning I spotted a Hoary Redpoll at the bird feeder. Being right on time, in the Yukon bird book it says there is a small increase in sightings in the third week of January. This bird is around here all winter, i just haven't seen it.
The Grosbeaks are gaining in numbers and singing!
The squirrels are chasing each other.
And right now the coyotes are howling somewhere very close by. But i don't know if that has anything to do with spring. OK, i'll read up on it.
And of course then there is that beautiful Boreal Chickadee, hanging out with the regulars (Black-capped Chickadees).