Another male House Finch from the snow we had last week.
Tag Archives: winter
Junco In The Snow
A Junco rests on a snowy branch while out foraging in the snow. How such a small creature survives the winter never ceases to amaze me. Does it wake on such a morning wishing it could sleep a little longer, rationalizing that later the snow will melt and its burdens will be just a little lighter?
Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections
I had some other ideas for this week’s photo challenge but I was walking through the woods and the reflection of the trees in this stream caught my attention. Perhaps too literal a treatment of this week’s theme but I liked the color and the stillness of the water at this spot.
Carolina Chickadee
The Carolina Chickadee is a common bird in the Southeastern United States. I photographed this one in Shenandoah National Park but we get plenty of them visiting our backyard bird feeders throughout the year. They are gregarious, often congregating with Titmice, vocal, and pretty acrobatic. As you can see in this photo, they frequently hang under branches to find food.
Carolina Chickadees are also quite small. According to allaboutbirds.org they only weight between 0.3-0.4 oz (8-12g). Every winter, when it gets really cold I wonder how they survive. Thankfully they do.
Melting Icicle
Earlier this month I visited Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Nearly all the west facing rocks had large icicle formations on them. On my way out of the park I decided to stop and get some photos of the icicles. Since it had been above freezing they were all slowly melting.
Woolly Bugger
I nearly stepped on this caterpillar while hiking in early January. Legend has it the area between the black stripes on the woolly bugger or woolly bear caterpillar indicates how mild or harsh the winter will be. The larger the area between the black stripes the milder the winter is supposed to be. Since the rear black stripe can’t even been seen in this photo the caterpillar prediction is for a pretty mild winter.
Bare Tree In Big Meadow
A crow watches the field below from a barren tree in the Big Meadow area of Shenandoah National Park.
Resting White-Tailed Deer
About a week ago I visited the Big Meadow section of Shenandoah National Park, specifically looking for deer. As I walked through the meadow I noticed this White-Tailed Deer watching me. I was able to get much closer, the deer in the park are quite used to people, but I like this image of the meadow with the deer resting in it.
Goldfinch in Sycamore
This gold finch, in winter plumage, was feasting on the seeds of a sycamore tree near the James River. It was rather far away and very high up in the tree but I was able to zoom in and crop the photo to produce this image.
Colorful Fungus on Log
This fallen log, in Pocahontas State Park, near Richmond, Virginia, forms the basis for quite an ecosystem of colorful fungus and lichen.
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