spruce-snow
A red spruce at the edge of our field sports a mantle of snow this morning

Yesterday’s surprise snow storm made for a pretty morning as the sun rose in a cloudless sky. With a strong southerly airflow, temperatures rose quickly and the 4″ of snow we received is on its way to melting.

According to Mary Holland, this is a boom year for conifer cones, and my observations from around our area bares this out. Those critters that feed on conifer cones—red squirrels, voles, waxwings, chickadees, nuthatches, grosbeaks, crossbills, and siskins—should see a bit of a bump in their numbers next breeding season.

Panasonic GX8, Lumix 14-140mm lens @ 84mm, ISO 800, f/10, 1/640″ exposure.