Winter is here-finally!

We woke up to all this snow this morning. It was expected, but you never know, if the wind should change we might get more or less. There is a total of about 14" on the ground..

Lots and lots of birds here today along with the ever present hawk, and then a Bald Eagle flew through the back yard, but I didn't get my camera ready quick enough!

The Goldfinches are still here, and probably will be as long as there is plenty to eat.

I have a few Pine Siskins, but only 3 or 4. Some years I have 100's.

This was our back yard this morning, and the snow persisted all day. Tonight the temps are supposed to get into the signal digits. Brrrrr

Winter birds

Another shot of one of the turkeys high up in a tree. They are wonderful flyer's, and they roost in the trees at night, but I can never find them. This male Cardinal looks so pretty against the white branches of this bush.

A good look at the back of this male Hairy woodpeckers head. He has just seen the Cooper's hawk, and remained so still for the longest time.

Mrs. Cardinal fluffed out against the cold.

Here he is, the ever present Cooper's hawk. He shows up every day!

Another fluffed up Song sparrow. On this morning it was -21 deg.

Another gray, gloomy day here in New York, but then again it IS still winter, and remember we only get 5 days of sun per month during this time of the year!

More Winter Part #2

I'm posting more of the frost pictures I took earlier this week.
Tonight, Thursday we're in the midst of a nasty snow storm that has dumped 12" of snow on us since 5AM today. Where IS spring. I am so ready for it. These are the berries from the Spiraea.

Icicle on Blue Spruce.

How clear the sky was that day. A rare sight in the winter.

A gall on a Golden Rod .

This is a bit of open water in our pond. I wasn't very quiet walking by this spot and I scared off a pair of Mallards. I must remember to be more observent.

Mrs. Cardinal looking as pretty as ever.

How about her other side?

This out building is coated with white ICE, not snow. We saw this on a ride the other day in an area where they had an ice storm last week.

Ridin the Rails. These Pigeons are always walking the tracks looking for food. Do you see the other one peeking up from the ground?

I know I've posted Mourning Doves plenty of times before, but I do like their looks. This one had been sleeping till he must have heard me.

Yesterday we had to go to town, and on the way back home we passed by a ground silo loaded with silage. The opening was crowded with wild Turkeys just helping themselves. Of course as soon as I stopped they began to fly away..

These 2 stuck around for another few minutes.

Back at home, more birds in flight.

Hail, Hail the gang's all here ! These Blue Jays are literally eating me out of house and peanut butter ! LOL

This guy isn't too sure he wants to land.

This one is doing a happy dance.

Early yesterday morning Azrael was on the prowl. By the looks of her, she has been under a pine tree, with snow on her head. Later after she left, the Blue Jays came out, and raided the suet.
I also had some peanuts for them, but I have to tell you what happened to the peanuts! The bag was on the dining room table and we had to leave for a while. During that time Tauqua our rescue dog got up on his hind legs and took the bag off the table and onto the floor. When we got home you wouldn't believe it. There were peanuts and shells all over the dining room floor! I smelled his breath, and he tried to blame the cat, but we know his tricks and lies, plus the cat was outside! LOL What a mess, and I didn't take a picture. I didn't think about it till it was cleaned up.

A Tree sparrow pecks at some seed on the ground.

Even the Juncos who are usual ground feeders, stop by for some peanut butter.

The sky cleared up around 3:00 and I couldn't believe how warm the sun was. The snow piles around the house are mounting. My greenhouse is on the far end( right) where you see a door. It used to be a front porch. We enclosed it with polycarbonate, and it makes the perfect place to raise Orchids. There is direct sun only for about 3-4 hours a day, and then that big Maple tree in the front yard lets in bright light, but no heat. A door opens into our living room, and this is also how we heat it during cold weather. Works perfect.

A very large flock of Canada geese flew over. I counted 71. Not easy to do. They were WAY up there.

This is what the area looked like on Saturday afternoon during that snow storm. This is a old farm house about a mile from us. The flakes were micro flakes, and made the air look foggy, but it was really snow. The visibility was horrible for a while.

Really cold air coming down from Canada by Tuesday. Time to get out the long johns! LOL

Good Morning all. Right now the sun is out, and it is a beautiful bright sunny day. Now remember me saying this because we don't get that many nice days during the winter. I didn't get out to take many pictures yesterday. I did make some Hodge Podge soup ( my own concoction ). I just love homemade soup, and decided yesterday was the day. I looked in my freezer for soup bones, but couldn't find any. We drove to the little grocery/ meat market 5 miles from here and after I waited in line at the meat counter 6-7 minutes left with out any soup bones. They were so busy, and the weather was turning ugly, so we headed for home. At that point I thought I might as well make soup from all the left overs in the fridge. It turned out so delicious, who needed soup bones anyway. In it were 2 pieces of Swiss steak, with rice and peas, black beans and rice, cabbage, carrots, beef stroganof, spinach, 2 cut up small potatoes, 1 qt. of beef stock, and 1 qt. of home canned tomatoes. I simmered it about 3-4 hours, and what a treat !. Now my fridge looks better too.
Frost on the window this morning.

A few birds stop by for a snack.

Our fire in the wood stove is keeping us toasty on this 16º F ( -6c) morning.

I can't get enough Mourning Doves. They are so gentle looking, although I have seen them fighting amongst themselves. Also they must have had such a good crop of youngsters this year, because I have many more than ever before.

I have so many Juncos this year.

By the way the Cooper's Hawk was here twice yesterday. One time he even landed on top of one of the feeders. I ran to get the camera, but scared him away. The next time he showed up he only stayed for a few seconds. Both times he left with out a meal.