Ruby Tuesday

I painted this picture many years ago, and still bring it out each Christmas.
Merry Christmas to all my blogger friends on Ruby Tuesday. Click on over to http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com to see lots more RED.
PS We lost all the snow we had!

Macro Monday

This is one one of my favorite ornaments, and I never realized the texture was so cool till I did this Macro. It looks like salt crystals.
Click on over to http://lisaschaos.com to see what Lisa had done with this neat meme.

Snowy Sunday

Back at Lake Erie this week, the huge group of Bonaparte's gulls, and Red-breasted Mergansers are still there where the fishing must be abundant yet. Here is a juvenile Red-breasted Merganser drake. I really like his colors.

A shot from farther away shows just how many can fit in this frame. There must be over 1000 birds in this small harbor.

Back at home, we have as of 11:00 this morning 4" of snow and mounting. Some of the winter birds have arrived like this Slate-colored Junco aka Snowbirds.

Also showing up is this cute little Carolina Wren. I'm so glad to have more birds.

These Goldfinches were here yesterday too. Gone is their beautiful golden color, but they are still most welcome. I hadn't seen them for a couple months, but probably they'll remain for the winter now.

Last but not least one of my favorites and loyal "patrons", the Downey woodpecker. I have several pair, and they bring the kids during the summer too.
OK, that's all for today. The hawk must be around someplace. All the birds except 2 have left the scene, and the remaining ones have frozen in time.

Weekend Reflections

On a recent trip to Chautauqua Lake I noticed that the water near the shore was beginning to freeze. Here we see a flock of Ring-billed gulls resting on the ice and giving us some reflections.
Click on over to http://weekendreflection.blogspot.com to see lots more reflections.

Skywatch Friday

With the roller coaster weather we've had lately one never knows what the weather might be, so just look out the window and take a guess. Here the geese are moving with a cloudy sky in the background. We've had 2 days of unsettled weather again with high winds and torrential rain most of the day. The local ski resort has been busy making snow, but I'm afraid with 50 deg. temps it won't be long till it melts. Tomorrow cold temps again for a couple days.
Click on over to http://skyley.blogspot.com to see lots more sky shots.

Thursday

On a recent trip to Chautauqua Lake we saw a large flock of Redhead ducks. They were way out in the middle of the lake, and swimming pretty fast.
There is always something different to see in the harbor at Barcelona on Lake Erie too. The water there is quiet and apparently good for fishing as seen by the next photo showing that the Bonaparte's gulls are still hanging around..

Back at Findley Lake near home I happen to see some Tundra Swans. This must be a family with two youngsters,
.

While we were there a few more Tundras flew up the lake with their recognizable whoo whoo calls.

All the snow we had a few days ago had disappeared with a steady rain today.
We're sneaking by December without too much snow, but don't worry we'll pay!

World Bird Wednesday

As winter approaches Mr. Cooper's hawk is here again. Yesterday he just sat in the tree soaking up the sun, but today he took a Mourning dove by chasing it into my bay window. I ran outside but the only remains were some feathers laying on the grass . I suppose the dove might have escaped, as I saw the hawk high up in a tree with no kill.

Those beady little eyes are hard to mistake.
Click on over to http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com to see what Springman has to offer.