Come, ye cold winds! at January’s call,
On whistling wings; and with white flakes bestrew
The earth.
~ John Ruskin
(The Poems of John Ruskin, Volume 1)
Blizzard Colbie gave us 22 24 inches of snow. I have been waiting for some decent snow this winter and it finally arrived. Zoë and I had a delightful afternoon watching the birds feeding in the snow on our balcony.
Tim sets up a webcam when it snows up here, so our kids in Georgia and North Carolina can watch the storm as it progresses. Nate, who has loved the color red since he was a baby, pinged me to let me know I had a cardinal out there. I already knew that, but it warmed my heart to know that he is still partial to all things red.
perhaps because I didn’t put out peanuts in the shells for him
1.27.15 ~ Groton, Connecticut
They still have not come to plow the parking lot of our complex and I’m wondering what the hold up is. Tim returned from doing some volunteer work at the Red Cross shelter and got stuck in the entrance to the driveway. Fortunately our very kind neighbors dug him out and created a parking space for him, too. All the neighbors’ cars are still buried.
Edit – the morning after – the final snow total for Groton was 24 inches! The town of Thompson got 33.5 inches!
Great bird pics and blessed neighbors.
Thank you, Janet. Kindly neighbors are definitely a blessing.
Darling little birdies – but the poor things having the balance the snow flakes on their beaks: they look confused and just a little bit aggravated!
I wonder if Ruskin ever thought to incorporate them into one of this Arts & Crafts designs?
Interesting question, Aubrey – I did a quick google image search and came up with many floral motifs, but no birds.
The poor birds may well have been confused and aggravated. This was my first time feeding them in the snow. A platter of seed that I thought was heavy enough to not blow away promptly sank into the depths of snow. Later on I tried scattering seeds across the snow. The birds landed on the snow and didn’t sink that much, and were able to get plenty of seeds, mostly mixed with snow. But I didn’t put out the peanuts, which disappointed the blue jays, who complained, but they had to make do with seeds.
Is that also a mourning dove in the first picture, all puffed up and looking coquettish? And who’s the black half of the odd couple? Wonderful pictures!
Thank you, Susan!
Yes, that is a mourning dove – I wasn’t sure if she was puffing her feathers in an effort to keep warm or if perhaps a gust of wind was ruffling her feathers. I suspect that black bird is a starling.
Wow that’s a lot of snow! I’m really impressed with the bird pictures – congratulations to the photographer. Its truly amazing how those birds can survive in such cold conditions.
Thank you, Rosie – I was surprised how well the pictures turned out being taken through the sliding glass doors. That’s the most snow I’ve ever seen, I think. More coming on Monday…
beautiful, Beautiful, BEAUTIFUL photographs. Blessings on your kind-hearted neighbors for helping Tim.
Thank you so much, Laurie!
And all we got was strong wind and a very light dusting of maybe 2 inches! Beautiful birds. I miss the birds, even though I have encountered a few on our walks!
Thank you, Jeff! I’m sure you will get your share of snow sooner or later this winter, and I’m sure it won’t be long before your camera finds the beauty in your new surroundings!
Wow, that’s an awful lot of snow, Barbara! We had about that same depth in water across some of the lower lying roads in our area a week ago, with cars also getting stuck! We live on the high ground though, because we know how suddenly the rain can build up, especially during a king tide, which coincided with the rain. How I love to see your sweet little birds too, so different to our native birds. And my eldest, Ben, has always loved the colour red, too. 🙂
A king tide – never heard that expression before so I looked it up – sounds like what we call a spring tide. We also get a lot of coastal flooding and street flooding in heavy rains. And a huge snow melt can cause flooding, too. It’s better to live on high ground!
I also enjoy seeing the differences between your local birds and ours.
I wonder if Ben and Nate have anything else in common? 🙂 Benjamin was one of the names I had in mind if Larisa had been a boy….
Absolutely beautiful… How strong they are to make it through the cold and the snow.
BTW nominated you for a Wonderful Team Member Readership Award” (Rad Version).~ Please check it out here: here: https://aquileana.wordpress.com/2015/01/29/%E2%96%BAgreek-mythology-poseidon-the-god-of-sea/
Best wishes! Aquileana 😀
Thank you, Aquileana!
You are great photographers. Love these bird pictures.
Thank you, Susan D.! (By the way, I have two Susans who leave comments here, I think I will start calling you Susan D. and the other one Susan G.!) Wish the Groundhog Day parade wasn’t so abbreviated by the weather this year – I was hoping to get more and better pictures than I did. Maybe next year?
All of those birds seem to have attitude!!! Jane
And who could blame them? 🙂