cardinal pics

This is one of my off-topic posts. One of the things that I enjoy about winter is seeing all of the birds that come to the feeders. They've been enthusiastic this week.

These are a couple of pics that I took on Monday before the snow. We'd just had a cold front drop us from a Sunday afternoon temperature of 59 to the teens later that night. The rain froze and glazed everything. The birds were quite content to hang around the feeders that I'd filled the day before. As usual, the most striking were the cardinals.

This male and female were enjoying sunflower seeds. It's not often that they'll both sit nicely at the same feeder. They may not have noticed each other.


And this is a male on his own, looking quite colorful against the green background.

Those are for you, Judie! :-)

More pics of birds and snow

The birds have been very active at the feeders today. They've looked so pretty against the backdrop of snow. Here are some cardinals and a close-up of a downy woodpecker.




I think the snow is almost finished. Just a few light flurries now. Looks like we got about 5-6 inches of snow out there. Not too bad.

Snow Day!

Just a couple of pics of the birds and the snow so far today. It's very pretty. Everyone is home, so we can watch and enjoy it without having to worry about being out in it, unlike the birds. :-)

It's the look

You know how there are some people who can say so much with just a look? I know a few folks like that. Anyway, I was going through some pics that I hadn't pulled off my camera. When I got to this one, I was reminded of 'The Look'. It made me chuckle, but it's also a pretty photo of a female cardinal. I love how soft her feathers look.

Ice Storm, Day 1

This is supposed to be a weekend of ice for us here in the midwest. Last night was not too bad. The roads are okay and the ice is covering trees and bushes. It's pretty, but I can see some downed tree limbs and I'm sure that some folks have lost power again. We're fine here though, and I took a few pics of the birds that have been visiting the feeders today. The cardinals are always a nice splash of color this time of year.


This red-bellied woodpecker was also here to fill up on some sunflower seeds. It adds some nice color, too, even if it is a bully.


I guess we'll see what Mother Nature has in store for us later.

Winter has arrived

Earlier this week we'd been able to get out and do the last of the raking in T-shirts and shorts, enjoying the unseasonably warm temps in the low 70s here in Missouri. All of that changed yesterday. It started with rain in the wee hours of the morning on Thursday, which changed to freezing rain and sleet over the course of the day as the temps took a big plunge into the 20s. Yikes, what a shock to the system! We pulled the girls out of school a couple of hours early. We weren't the only ones. With predictions of more sleet with significant accumulations, followed by heavy snow later, schools and businesses were all letting out early. I don't think I've ever seen so much sleet that it covered the yard like it was snow. It was more like someone poured snow cone ice all over the place. Anyway, we were lucky here. The power stayed on and our trees aren't big enough to pose a real danger as far as the ice and wind causing them to snap off large limbs and branches. In fact, once the sun came out today, it was rather pretty with all of the ice glistening on the trees.

Here's a pic of my backyard before the girls got out there and played in it.

The birds were also active at the feeders. A couple of days ago after hearing the forecast, I'd filled all of the feeders that we have. Here's a female cardinal who was waiting her turn at the sunflower seeds.

I'll give the blue jay some equal time, though it tends to be a bully.

Looks like winter is finally here. Good thing, too. It was tough to get in the mood for the holidays when it was staying so warm.