Bitter cold weather has arrived

Honey pot at dawn, Hadley, MA, Jan 7, 2015

We are in the midst of a cold snap here with occasional snow showers but the real story is the bitter cold.  It has not been above freezing in days and lows have been down in the single digits.  Tonight is forecast to get to -10 or colder with a strong northwest wind producing wind chills up to -30.  Needless to say birding has been limited the last few days with just a couple of very brief stops on my way to work trying to turn up some owls over farm fields in Hadley (I have found none).  The forecast is calling for below freezing temperatures through at least the first part of next week so most bodies of water will freeze up quickly, if they have not already.  Quabbin is still open but who knows for how long.  Soon it will just be the river that will have any open water which will hopefully concentrate the remaining waterfowl.