One of the things I try to understand, or am amazed by, is how much overlap there is between Blackhawks fans, fishermen and bowlers.

Yes, some mornings that is the sort of thing I mull.

So many mourning doves again that I didn't bother counting them as we set out. A pair of blue jays squawked by the ball field on the edge of town. Many cardinals called from the tops of trees.

Must be something about the morning after a big snow, the bird activity was the best in months.

Roads and alleys are clean, but there is a pile of snow on the ground. Cold enough last night to make it crunchy.

Three Canada geese flew low toward the lake to the west. Many red-winged blackbirds trilled from the edge of the town pond.

Two woodpeckers hammered trees around the south old clay pit. But they were far enough off that I could not find them.

A pair of Canada geese swam by the island in a small patch of open water.. I suspect they are the pair that regularly nests there. In most years, they would already be on the nest. Looking at the forecast, I bet they are a nest by Sunday or Monday.

The ice fishermen left their ice shanty in the spot they moved it to yesterday on the ice cap on the south end of the south pit.

A lone goose circled the island, but I noticed the swimming pair did not call or indicate any desire for company. A three-some is out of the question.

Dozens of doves fluttered around the wires by the feed mill on the edge of town.

I cover fishing as part of my outdoors columns for the Sun-Times, and bowling, such as we do, as a side job.

Make no mistake, the Chicago Bears are the great unifier of the Chicago sporting scene, and the Cubs and Sox are the great dividers.

But when it comes fishing and bowling, I think the Blackhawks are running a close second maybe even above the Bears.

Four gray squirrels and a black squirrel scattered from under a neighbor's bird feeder. A pair of doves flushed from the porch as Storm and I walked up the steps.

A lively morning.