Solstice, Wind Symphony and Owl Surprise

Good, slow 45/100ths inch of rain fell on Monday the 19th. I visited the Woods through the SW Gate in the afternoon on a warmish (55F) Wed the 21st, Winter Solstice. I was greeted by a calm whitetailed doe near the NW corner of the dune. She declined to run; but her two yearlings, a 100 meters east, ran off to the west, white tails flashing.
The ponds had risen in an asymmetrical fashion - the E Pond was up to 2.30 ft and the W Pond was up to 2.10. Both began at 2.0 before the rain. There were a dozen busy aquatic insects (small chironomids?) flying over a small SW corner of the Western pond.. couldn't make out from a distance what they were. Otherwise, the ponds were quiet. A downy woodpecker was working hard to extract the small peanuts from Claire's titmouse feeder by the E Pond.

I returned to the Woods on a much colder afternoon, today, the 22nd via the trash station. Approaching the south entrance by the H10 post, I disturbed a large barred owl that flew 100 feet west and then looked at me until I moved on. I wandered east across the recently washed-over ragweed delta. The patches of big-leaved Polygonum that had remained green along the service road were now dead and brown. Along the delta stream channels, I found a curious hole in the soft wet sand, 1.5-2 inch diam. and a foot deep, straight down. I wonder what could have made that. I dipped in a stick and the bottom 3 in. came up wet with ground water.. a good test location for shallow water table depth.

W of the Elm Bridge I heard a loud, high-pitched sound like the call of a hawk ringing through the Woods. After a moment. I discovered it was from the large branches of a broken elm lodged against the upper bole of a stout young green ash. In the 12-17 mph N wind the two trees played a unique wind symphony together. I wondered how the sounds of other trees rubbing and rattling against each other would change as the wind shifted strength and direction.. and if animals living in the Woods took any notice.
West of the Bur Oak Bridge, the white barked trunks of a small group of sycamores stood out. There are not many of these in the Woods ( fewer than 20?). I expect they will grow well and their numbers should increase.
I need to find the diameter tape and begin documenting more of the large trees in the south Woods.
Leaving the Woods I took the Dune Trail south and stopped at the big leaning Bur Oak snag, to push aside a jutting broken branch.. and to my surprise flushed the barred owl from its perch on the bur oak snag just 10 feet from me. It left a dead vole or large mouse, still intact, belly up on the bur oak. I moved along without delay so that the owl could return to its dinner before the storm arrived.