Day 18.039: FeederWatch x StormWatch

Here are some bird pictures from a Sunday and Monday that were mostly defined by clearing snow and recovering from clearing snow.

Mourning dove unhelpfully on top of the feeder

Downy woodpecker showing both his small beak and black spots on the outer tail feathers (both distinctive vs the hairy woodpecker)

What did the crow say to the other crow?

Day 18.038: Storm out

I had several inches of snow to move again this morning. Although we had some sleet (ice pellets) mixed in, the majority of the precipitation fell as snow and we had no noticeable freezing rain. All told, the storm dropped about ten inches of snow here on top of what we already had from weeks of storm after storm. Exile #3 noticed what looked like a weird optical illusion around the rim of the birdbath - in fact she was just seeing the water underneath the ice-rim which appeared to be levitating slightly.  Here’s a video to try to capture the effect. 

It has - as predicted- been rather windy all day today and we’re glad that the trees don’t have the extra stress of a layer of ice while they are dealing with the wind.

Day 18.037: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #513

Exile #2 writes...

The snow started last night and has been coming down all day. We, along with most others, hunkered down and kept off the roads. There is still opportunity for more chaos with freezing rain tonight, followed by high winds tomorrow but fortunately, tomorrow is a public holiday so none of us has to go anywhere. We decided to brighten our evening with a virtual trip to the theatre, and gathered to watch Waitress, the Musical, which was fantastic and a suitably cosy way to spend the evening together.

Our front steps after the second round of snow clearing today

Day 18.036: Pre-snow crows

As I write this, we have a new coating of snow which is expected to turn into several inches - probably mixed with some ice by the end of the day tomorrow (Sunday). Earlier, we took advantage of the calmer weather to take a walk at the cemetery and see what we could see to add to the Great Backyard Bird Count.

Our final tally was not bad, but the main event were the crows. There was a large group gathering noisily at the top of a few trees and then moving - mostly en masse - to another tree top. Twice I counted 34, so I suspect there were probably 40 or more.

Some of the crows

A bluebird on a bare branch

Day 18.035: Glazed

The messy storm has put a shiny coat of ice on top of the snow-pack. The next storm will probably bring another layer of snow and likely another layer of ice on top. In the meantime, here’s some ice in more interesting formation today just outside our front door.

Day 18.034: Unaffected

Our storm today brought us an inch or two of snow, soon weighed-down by first sleet (ice pellets) and then some normal liquid rain as temperatures just peaked above freezing briefly. This being Maine, life went on pretty much as normal throughout.

On another note, I was thinking about the fact that some birds are very much affected in terms of finding food by a thick blanket of snow on the ground and some are relatively unaffected:

Downy woodpecker on a small tree limb

I'm sure the cold affects their food source somewhat, but snow - not so much.

Day 18.033: Feeder watching in the snow

Here are some more photos from the last storm. We have another one coming in tonight.

Finding dropped food in the snow...

...can result in...

...a snowy nose

The bluebirds found a way to get to the water

Five crows have been visiting often since there has been snow on the ground. They can't get onto the feeder, but join the squirrels to gather what is dropped and otherwise sit in the branches above.

The starlings still come regularly...

...and often bring...

...the...

...drama