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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Nature Notes: End of January

The cedar waxwings continue to come in large groups for a drink of water on my deck, although they stayed away when we had our ice storm. I even put out fruit especially for them but I didn't see them until the ice melted.
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American Robins are another bird that don't come to my deck in bad weather but come back as soon as we have a warmer day.
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I put fresh water in the bird bath as soon as I saw the robin above at the ice bath.
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It's amazing how many waxwings flock to my trees. The next shot only shows a fraction of them.
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The hawk below landed so high in a tree and so far from me that I was surprised to be able to zoom in on it at all. In the shot it looks like a small bird but if you look at it's predatory beak you can tell what it is. Also as far away as I was, a small bird would have been a dot.
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The female rufous-sided towhee below was eating on my deck in bad weather.
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The squirrel below stretched out for a drink before the snow and sleet started.
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I enjoyed watching the little titmouse shown below.
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You can tell that the sparrow is cold the way it's all puffed out.
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I thought the ice covered leaf below was rather strange looking.
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I liked the way the icicles hanging from the roof gutter looked.
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The male cardinal stood out against the icy vines.
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The male rufous-sided towhee has a mouthful.
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The female rufous-sided towhee also has a full mouth.
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A yellow-rump warbler was snacking on my deck wall.
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The female cardinal is ice skating.
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I love the way trees look when they are covered in ice.
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The bluejay is having breakfast.
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A pine sapling lay down under the icy weight.
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The mourning doves showed up for ring around the rosie after the ice melted.
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Saturday, January 26, 2013

Today's Flowers: Ice Buds

The main thing growing at my house this morning is icicles.
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It occurred to me that some of the bushes and vines have premature buds.
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I carefully walked around photographing them.
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This is the kind of weather where walking is tricky. I almost needed ice skates.
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Friday, January 25, 2013

Photohunters: Knitted Architecture



One meaning for knitted is to be joined closely together.
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I went to my archives for pictures of my city (Raleigh, NC) that would show buildings which were knitted together.
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In the downtown part of my city there are a lot of examples of buildings which are closely joined together.
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These pictures were taken last spring at the Artsplosure festival.
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In some of the shots, people and sculptures of dancers were knitted together.
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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Nature Notes: Crazy Quilt

Crazy quilt pretty much sums up the weather nature provided this past week.
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On a mild, rainy day the female cardinal above had a shower and bath at the same time.
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The next night we finally had a snow shower.
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I was hoping we'd get more snow than we did but it changed to freezing rain.
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It was pretty but I'm still hoping for a big fluffy snow.
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The icy layer on top did make fun sounds when I walked through it.
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It also stuck around longer even after the temperature was above freezing.
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An ice layer over snow takes longer to melt.
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The little sparrow looked cold but was grateful for treats I put out.
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The one time I always try and feed the birds is when we have snow or extra low temperatures.
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Some of the icy shapes clung to the leaves.
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I still have piles of leaves I raked up in the fall but haven't moved yet.
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There were little holes in the wintry mix which may have been from the hard freezing rain or possibly animals.
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By Sunday most of the ice and snow melted and I walked at the lake.
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I tried to photograph a great blue heron in flight but didn't get the picture until it landed in a pine tree.
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I almost never catch them in the trees.
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The gulls were quite active at the lake.
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The geese were foraging for food.
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