We had a visit from a garrulous gaggle of Bohemian waxwings yesterday morning. They honed in on the berry laden Korean mountain ash in our front yard and chowed down for a good long time. Bohemians are similar to their Cedar cousins, but are easily differentiated by the prominent rufous coloring beneath the tail and chin.
A drop of sap falls from a tap. With the advent of tubing systems, there aren’t many places that still use taps and buckets to collect their maple sap, but the Audubon Nature Center here in Huntington still holds to the tradition. It’s nice to hear the pinging of drops as the sap starts flowing!
Our pal the barred owl was back yesterday afternoon, making himself (herself?) very comfortable on the top of our feeder stand for a good two hours. He seemed to be most interested in the goings on right below the feeder, no doubt waiting for a juicy mouse or other rodent to make its appearance. At times it looked like he was napping. Interestingly, none of the little birds seemed to mind too much that he was there, as the chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, and even cardinals happily munched at our other feeders just a few feet away from the owl.
Nikon D600, Sigma 120-400mm lens @ 330mm, ISO 1250, f/5.6, 1/200″ exposure.
I posted this on my Weather Blog this morning, but figured I post it here too. As I walked up our walkway yesterday afternoon coming back from a ski, I caught the movement of a larger critter flying out of the hemlock by the feeder. Sure enough, it was this barred owl lurking about looking for a meal. It flew up into the top of one of our now-broken willow trees by the pond. Note the chickadee in the branch just below the owl. Chickadees like to know where the predators are, and will stay close and even harass them as a warning to other birds. Just another reason I love chickadees so much! The owl was nice enough to wait for me as I went inside and grabbed my camera.
Nikon D600, Sigma 120-400mm lens @ 400mm, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/1250″ exposure
I hope you had a chance to see it. Venus is the brighter of the two dots. Simply beautiful!
Several alert readers of my East Street Weather Blog have pointed out that this morning’s photo reminded them of a nicely salted pretzel. Here’s another version of the photo with some of the more tell-tale details cropped out. Can you figure out what it is?
Chickadees are my favorite birds. I think I’ve said that before… I love their gregariousness and seeming tameness (I’ve had one eat out of my hand once) and the way they talk to each other and to me when I’m filling the feeders. When the weather’s bitter cold—as it has been recently—they rely on a consistent food supply to keep their little engines running.
Nikon D600, Sigma 105mm macro lens (I was on a macro shoot…), ISO 1000, f/18, 1/640″ exposure.
I came across these fine, delicate frost feathers growing from a sucker stem next to one of the apple trees in our back yard. There was a hole just below the stem and next to the tree trunk where I’ll wager some critter has taken up winter residence allowing its warm breath to create just enough moisture for the crystals to form.
I’ve really been enjoying the beautiful snow we’ve got right now (and not only for skiing!) The smoothness and openness of the world is punctuated here and there by the remains of last summer’s growth.
John Hadden Photography 