Wednesday, February 02, 2011

No Respite from Winter

Alas, the whole of the United States seems to be reeling from one storm after another. For all of the anticipation heaped up by the media, when it finally reached us here in Vermont it was not too bad - about 10 inches (25cm), with some mixture late of sleet and freezing rain. The snow pack in the back yard is now 30 inches (75 cm).

The storm may not have been too bad for us, but I am getting tired of winter.

After the big flock moved through a few days ago, four Wild Turkeys are continuing in the near vicinity.


While eating lunch, I saw big black things high in the willow tree. We don't think of turkeys as flying machines, but they are quite adept.


The winter finches have moved elsewhere - no grosbeaks, redpolls, siskins. But the neighborhood residents are still present, including at least five cardinals ... and a Red-breasted Nuthatch returned briefly to the suet.

Northern Cardinal, female

Northern Cardinal, male

Red-breasted Nuthatch

7 comments:

Simon Taylor said...

Agreed - I hope we have no more snow in the UK. Everything ships out in a desperate bid to survive. Whilst it may create very pictoresque images of landscapes it devastates the wildlife population

Folkways Note Book said...

Chris -- Kentucky has had colder than usual temps, more snow than usual, and lots of intermittent ice. Together all these elements contribute to a "survival of the fittest" winter for the wildlife around here. Yet, today the snow is gone but the cold remains -- and yet -- I saw a flock of about 40 -50 robins searching together on open ground. I wondered what this meant? Are they just hardy and great survivors of all this unusual weather? -- barbara

Dave said...

Now I don't feel so bad about the snow we received today Chris!

If it wasn't for the birds at our feeders I would have gone crazy today!

Emily said...

Awesome photos and so understand the shock of turkeys in flight. Since my family retired from farming in Wis and there are less domesticated animals about - the turkeys have filled the gap. Sometime a little startling to scare one up when lawn mowing.

Julie G. said...

Beautiful winter images of your backyard visitors! I'm definitely longing for spring after the brutal winter we have been experiencing. A delight to view your blog!

Warren and Lisa Strobel said...

Chris - we feel for you. Hope spring comes soon. if it's any consolation, we here in the mid-Atlantic got hammered LAST winter.

Good Birding!
Warren & lisa

Unknown said...

That first picture is probably the best Wild Turkey photo I've ever seen! Excellent work once again, Chris.

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