Anne and I erected the Christmas tree and placed it in the living room.  I strung the lights and Anne strung the garlands.  That kept us busy until lunch.  After lunch I went for a bike ride in the Park.  Anne spent her time putting up ornaments.

The Park was relatively quiet on this December Sunday afternoon.  It was warmer than on Saturday, but Saturday night’s thunderstorm left the Park pretty well soaked.  There was a fair amount of bird life in the Park.  I saw Ring-Bill Gulls at the Grand Basin.  I can’t ever recall seeing gulls in the Park before.  I guess they were migrating through town.  I pestered some Canada Geese over by Deer Lake.  I got decent pictures of a male Wood Duck and a Junco.

Climbing Owl Hill, I was rewarded by seeing both Charles and Sarah, a pair of Great Horned Owls.  I’ve seen Charles several times this fall, but this is the first time that I have seen Sarah since last spring.  I was beginning to worry about her.  I’ve included the picture of Charles with this post because he at least seemed to react to me.  Sarah just sat there, staring off into space.

As I was leaving a young couple came walking down the near by road.  They asked what I was doing and I told them about the owls.  They wanted to see them, but as we approached Sarah flew off.  I guess the three of us were too much for her.  I came back later, near the end of my ride and Charles had left too, but by this time it was already dusk, time for owls to go to work.  I got fifteen miles.