Nature Notes: Early December

I took the first shot of the chickadee after I'd dumped the ice out of the bird baths and added fresh water.

The next few shots were taken another morning when I was catching the morning light and getting the ice out of the bird baths.

I spotted the american robin in the tree waiting for me to finish adding fresh water.

A male cardinal was keeping an eye on me too.

I know the birds were impatient for me to stop photographing the ice I dumped.

Some of the blackberry leaves haven't dropped yet and I like the way they look with a little frost.

The nandina berries are a bright spot in my back yard this time of years.

After a cold start to December on the first few days, we've had a few warmer days.

Sunday was a very pleasant day for walking at the lake.

I've been keeping an eye out for the gulls to return to the lake since they usually appear in the winter.

When I first spotted them they looked like little jewels.

Then I got some closer shots. They must go somewhere else to nest because winter is when I see the gulls at this lake. I've taken shots of the gulls on snowy rooftops and on the icy lake but never see them past early spring at this lake.

In the shot below the bird splashing down is a Canada Goose and the gulls are on the right side.

The fish feeding station is the great blue herons favorite perch.

I don't know what kind of goose or maybe duck that is in front of the canadian geese below.

Because the red markings are similar I assume the one above and below are the same kind but one is a male and one a female.

I ended up picking a bunch of shots for this post because it was hard to decide which to use.

Back at my house, the male cardinals are another bright spot of color.

I'm still seeing a lot of American Robins although mostly in the bird baths and trees.

The rufous-sided towhee below jumped in the bath after a lot of the water was splashed out and before I had a chance to add some.

The sparrow went for the larger bath.

Then the robins decided they'd take both of the deck baths.

Usually the cardinals hold their own with the robins but the female below was watching the bathing robins.

I cropped the robin below that was screaming at another robin for the next shot to show just how expressive it was.

Next is the full shot so you can see both of the birds involved in the shouting match.

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