At the Feeder

For about a half hour this morning I had a whirlwind of activity at my patio.

I think the robins lead the way, coming in for a drink and some holly berries.

A flicker followed.  He is an infrequent visitor in my yard.

The lovely white-throated sparrow is always around.

If there are peanuts you can count on seeing a blue jay.

The house finch prefers the sunflower seeds.

On the peanut feeder, of course, that's the red-bellied woodpecker.

The starlings come in droves and eat everything.

The gangs all here!  House sparrows.

Searching for snowy.

You may have heard that this winter there were an unusual number of snowy owls in New Jersey.  So we decided to go to Brigantine (Edwin B. Forsythe) National Wildlife Sanctuary to search for the snowy owl.

This was the first bird we saw, definitely not an owl, but a red-tailed hawk.

A snowy owl, sitting on the water's edge, best seen through a spotting scope.

There's Atlantic City over the water.

Owl number two looked like a big white ball thrown into the grass.

The snow geese were pretty far away.

Not all the pintails had muddy bottoms.

There are always Canada geese.

A shot of Philly on the way home.  It was a successful day.

Sunset

In case you missed it, the sunset last night was spectacular.

Red sky at night

Sailors delight

But we still had snow this morning.

But not much.

Merry Christmas

For those of you still wanting a white Christmas, may I again recommend the Feederwatch cam in Ontario.  It has been snowing there most of the day.

Better yet visit the gingerbread house display in Central.

These are for viewing, not eating.

But then, you weren't hungry after that wonderful dinner.

Such creativity!

Wonderful!

This snow is cotton.

There are even more to be seen than shown here.

Meanwhile, back at the feeder is this gray jay.

Christmas is Coming

The trees outside the main entrance look especially pretty in the snow.

There are wreaths on doors and windows.

The flowers in the Niche are red and white with green.

There is a beautiful Christmas tree in the lobby outside the dining room.  This photo does not do it justice.

These carolers sing from the mantle in the Abington dining room.

This scene is outside an Abington residence.

The decorations along the Gwynedd House walkway are magnificent.

Especially when viewed up close.

More Snow

Some more snow photos, the day after, when the sun comes out and the steam rises from the meadow.

Just a bench and a tree.

Children's picnic bench

Just snow

A cardinal in the snow.

Second Snow

Today we had our second snow and it isn't even winter yet.

It was a pretty snow.

I am guessing four to five inches.

These photos were taken outside my front door, more or less.

If you are bored with watching juncos outside your window, may I suggest Cornell's All About Birds live FeederWatchCam from Ontario.

Pine grosbeaks.

Evening grosbeaks.

First Snow

We had about 4 inches of snow followed by ice and rain.

These orange berries look pretty surrounded by snow and ice.

Red and green and white, colors of Christmas.

There were even icicles to be found.

And someone with keen eyes showed me where this giant wasp nest was covered with ice.