This morning we woke up to branches hanging low, laden with snow, the ground carpeted, the trees cloaked in white. It had snowed quite a lot, it frosted the trees and stuck to everything. The forest was white and thick. We can usually see straight across to the neighbors house, today all we could see was a wall of white.
The stunning beauty quickly drew us outside (resulting in not a whole lot of school getting done) to play and do some birding. The trail through the forest now felt like a tunnel surrounding us. I gasped every time I looked left and right, and licked the snow off the branches.
I did some birdwatching and photographing around the feeders while my siblings took a walk. There were a lot of Hoary and Common Redpolls, as well as chickadees. The landscape right now is perfect for photographing, the trees burdened with fresh snow, like a blanket on the evergreens. I was just imagining how a Cardinal on one of the snow covered evergreens would make an amazing picture, or a Purple Finch.
William and I headed out back, hoping we might see the Long-eared Owls. We know usually where they are, in a strip of spruce trees separating our property from the neighbors, so we headed there first. Sure enough, out flies one. It flew a short distance into the evergreen stand, where we quietly sneaked up and got our shots.
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| Clothes line coated in snow |
I sat on a chair very near to the finch feeder, where several redpolls were eating.
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| Common Redpolls |
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| Common Redpoll |
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| Common Redpoll |
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| Common Redpolls |
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| Common Redpoll |
A Downy Woodpecker came to the suet, I stood up and walked closer to it.
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| Downy Woodpecker |
I love this picture, a chickadee in the light falling snow.
This photo is very good, it is completely uncropped, and the lighting is only very slightly changed.
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| Common Redpoll |
This is what I was trying to get the whole time. A bird on the spikes of snow. I really like this picture.
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| Hoary Redpoll |
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| Black-capped Chickadee |
This is what the whole forest looked like. No branches, just peculiar wires of snow.
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| Not time for nesting now, eh? |
It looked like there was ice, but it was actually just slush.
Our dog watched us as we photographed the owl.
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| Winzy, our dog. |
Now for the owl pictures, these are probably the best Long-eared Owl photos I have taken.
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| Long-eared Owl |
It getting ready to fly.
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| Long-eared Owl |
It flew to a different perch, then I handed the camera over to William.
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| Long-eared Owl |
We took turns until my other brother came walking up and it flew.
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| Long-eared Owl |
By now, when I am finishing this post, the splendor of the forest is dissipating and it is melting away, so I'm glad I got out there in the morning.
Let me know how your morning was, and what birds you are seeing!
