Nature Notes: Weird Weather Continues

When I feed the birds during cold weather, I see the nuthatches more often.

The carolina chickadees are another bird I spot more frequently in the winter when I help them out with food and water.

The tufted titmouse is another bird that arrives for winter help. I had trouble keeping warm water in the baths during the extreme weather early this past week.

The male rufous-sided towhee was having a snack.

The cormorants were on their favorite perches at the lake.

Part of the week a fair portion of the lake and creeks were frozen.

The ground went snap crackle pop went I walked on the banks for photos.

 

 The ice below looks like plastic to me.

There were a lot of gulls hanging out.

 The heron was several feet away from the gulls.

 I wonder how the cormorants always manage to stake out the pilings for their perches.

 The next morning the birds watched me put out food at sunrise.

 I went on another walk at the lake to get some more ice shots before the temperatures went up.

The reason I titled this post weird weather continues is because we had close to a 60 degree difference in the warmest and coldest temperatures.

To me the strangest part was Friday night when the temperature went up instead of down as it usually does at night.

 

Saturday afternoon we had very strong winds and rain so hard it sounded like hail.

 There were even tornado warnings for part of the county I live in that afternoon but I don't think any materialized.

 The sky was gorgeous on Thursday.

 If I was a few decades younger I would have been tempted to slide around on the frozen flooded bank below in my sneakers.

I could hear the female cardinal thinking, I'm ready for some fresh water please.

The rest of the shots were taken Sunday after the lake and creeks had thawed out.

The water birds were jubilant about the warmer weather although it's not going to last long.

 The picnic table in the lake made me laugh. It certainly goes to show how much flooding there was.

 

The bad part about the flooding was that on the very cold days and nights, there were puddles of ice on the roads and gutters and it was necessary to be careful even though our rain was on the days when it was above freezing. My point is we didn't have snow or ice storms but there was still a lot of water from the rainy days when we had temperatures as cold as 10 degrees F (- 12.2 C).

Click for the home of Nature Notes. I'm posting early as I sometimes do.

Today's Flowers: Camellia

Some of the camellia buds got too far ahead of themselves during a warm spell and started turning black when the arctic blast came bustling through.

Click here for the home of today's flowers.

Photohunters: Time and door

Visiting Colonial Williamsburg several years ago I was able to glance up at the clock tower on top of the historic capitol to see what time it was before going through the arches which led to the doors.

Click here for the door photohunt and here for the time photohunt.

Nature Notes: Early January

January has already had the same extremes at either end of the spectrum, temperature wise, that we had in December.

So far the warm spells have kept Shelley Lake from freezing during the cold spells but I have a feeling that will change this week because it's supposed to get extremely cold Monday night and stay cold for a bit.

The heron above is watching for fish from the fish feeding station and the gull is also watching the same spot from a different vantage point.

The cormorants are on their favorite perches above.

I enjoy the gulls that come to the lake during the winter and leave when spring arrives.

 The junco below was watching me put food on the deck wall.

The tufted titmouse below was hopping on the wall for food and back to the tree.

 The chickadee below was another arriving and leaving quickly with a mouth full.

 The nuthatches were also getting a quick meal.

The red-bellied woodpecker staked out its eating area. The ligustrum bushes stay green year round and they look especially pretty to me when they are covered in snow but no snow yet this winter.

 The male cardinal below was keeping an eye on me from a distance.

 Can anyone tell me how the water from a bird bath can rise and form a knife like point as shown below. I've had this happen before when it goes from a moderate day to an extremely cold night. I'm baffled by it and would love an explanation.

 The next shot was one I took in my yard on the other side of the deck wall (usually I photograph the birds on the wall from inside my house). The red-bellied woodpecker and male rufous-sided towhee were having breakfast.

The female cardinal wasn't fast enough for a warm bath as the water refroze so fast after I got the ice out. I did add some more warm water later.

Although they aren't as flamboyant as the males, female cardinals have their own beauty.

I don't know if the mourning doves were pecking at the ice for water or food. On the other side of the ice were two bird baths with liquid water and there was food on the deck wall so I'm not sure why they spent so much time with the ice.

 I like the way the dove's feather below have a ruffled look.

 Below is a male rufous-sided towhee.

 The next one was having a snack further down the top of the wall.

 The squirrels are also happy to have some food.

 Next is a brown thrasher.

There are a lot of sparrows in my yard and at first I thought the bird below was a sparrow but after looking at it more closely I think it's a yellow-rumped warbler.

The female rufous-sided towhees look a lot like the males except they have dark brown feathers where the males have black feathers. 

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Photohunters: Aqua and Wheels

The shot below is one from a past summer beach trip. The ocean is for the aqua theme and the emergency vehicle is for wheels. You can't read it in the small shot but the truck says that it's fire and rescue. Looks prepared for anything pulling the small speed boat. 

Click here for the wheels photohunt and here for the Aqua photohunt.