For this post I'm going to begin with shot I took this morning (Wednesday) and move backwards.
The junco above is looking for seeds that have fallen off the deck wall and table where I have feeding stations. The nuthatch is having a snack above the junco in the shot below.
You can't tell from these shots but everything still has a layer of ice from Monday night's freezing rain and Tuesday's freezing drizzle.
The house finch above is pausing from partaking of its breakfast. The waxwing below is stoically sitting on an icy branch.
It's very rare to see robins in the winter although I know they are around but they rarely eat seeds on the deck in bad weather. This one must be hungry to join the rest of the birds.
Yesterday the watering can was an ice water can.
The grass was almost as slick as the harder surfaces.
I wasn't strong enough to use my snow shovel to break up the ice for walking paths but I found it works pretty well as something to balance on when I took out bird seed.
The blue jay is perched underneath icicles although they are hard to see.
The rest of the shots are moving back prior to the ice storm although it was cold. The female cardinal is enjoying some fresh water.
I think there is a mix of waxwings, sparrows, and juncos in the shot below.
They seem rather companionable on perched on the branches.
It almost looks like a ghost is flying towards the red-bellied woodpecker below.
I am surprised how many cardinals are about. There are times when I've spotted dozens of them, about half male like the ones below and half female.
There are always a fair number of brown thrashers too.
The roufus-sided towhee is kind enough to sing for me, although it's far more vocal in the spring. I just noticed there is a sparrow on the far left of this shot. I didn't even see it until I started writing the post.
The grackle is quite stylish with his black and blue feathers.
The tufted titmouse is a flighty fellow.
The squirrel approaches while the brown thrasher ruffles his feathers.
Click for the home of Nature Notes.
For this week's Today's Flowers I am looking back on Iris shots I took in my April 2010 garden.
I had a lot of shots of my Iris that I haven't posted which comes in handy for winter posts when flowers are scarce.
I don't have any flowers blooming now so they are not only scarce but non existent.
I have less and less iris returning in the spring and I know part of the problem is I need to divide and rework the beds.
It's physically hard for me to to anything terribly strenuous in the garden at this point in my life.
Fortunately I still have some flowers continuing to return and hang tough in spite of neglect.
I love iris and have a number of other varieties but these are the ones I saw in my April photo folders. There are probably others in May and maybe June.
Since last week I posted some March 2010 flowers, I thought I'd go with April this week and I'll probably keep going through the flowers of 2010 until I have something blooming in 2011.
I like how each iris looks a little different even when it's the same variety. This post included three different varieties.
Click for the home of today's flowers.
The photohunters prompt this week is "free week".
I realize that means we are free to select any photographs we want to.
I decided to use the word free as a prompt because I like having something solid to work with.
I spent some free time at the beach in July watching the birds.
It's easy when watching birds in flight to think of them as free.
However, they are constantly searching for food and being battered by storms and severe weather.
I'm reminded of the line "freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose" from the song "Me and Bobby McGee which was written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster and performed by Janis Joplin amongst others.
Free birds have to work mighty hard for shelter and food.
That said, I imagine a bird would rather be free to fly and hunt as opposed to being relegated to a cage.
I realize I'm putting it all in a human context which is a silly thing to do but I'm allowing myself the freedom for flights of fancy.
I would like the freedom to soar up in the air on my own steam, fly around, see the view and then return to my heated and air conditioned home with food in the pantry and an oven to cook it on.
For other photohunters entries for the "free week" click here.
I find in winter the main thing I focus on in terms of nature are the birds and the weather.
The carolina wren above actually stopped moving long enough for me to photograph it, although it blended in to the background.
The titmouse crown was so far back, I was almost unsure that it was a titmouse since I associate them with their little upward crowns.
The red-bellied woodpecker was moving up and down the tree with great speed but occasionally stopped.
The black birds are hard for me to decide about, but I'm thinking starlings although possibly ravens or crows.
I know size is one way of determining which birds they are but without measuring them I'm never sure.
There are so many cardinals in my yard that I frequently post shots of them.
I never tire of watching the cardinals because they have such a range of expressions.
The bird below almost looks like a robin but it's hard to tell in the shot below what it is.
The rufous-sided towhee is one that's easy to identify with it's patch work look.
I think blue jays are very spiffy looking with their brilliant blue feathers.
We've had quite a range of temperatures. There was still some snow on the ground that hadn't melted on New Year's Eve but the first day of the year was like spring and melted the last of it.
We've returned to quite cold nights with the temperature inching above freezing during the day.
Click here for the home of Nature Notes.
As we begin a new year, I thought I'd look back to flowers blooming in my yard during the end of March, 2010.
It will only be about three months before I will begin to have some of these blooms again.
Last year March began with a little snow but we warmed up quickly after that.
I enjoy all of the seasons but do miss flowers during the winter months.
I hope everyone has a great 2011. It's surreal to me to see that number in print. I was born in 1957 and am still barely used to 2000.
Click for the home of Today's Flowers.
