Snow and Snowstorms

[yourlibrarian]

We've had snow repeatedly over the past few weeks, making for a lot of new photos.





During the snowstorm 2 weeks ago, we woke up Thursday morning to this sight on our balcony. This was very unusual. Despite the lilacs being out there for over a decade, we rarely have the birds exploring them, much less perching in them.

The sparrows are also very skittish. The usual mix at the plate are purple finches (seen in the next photo), junkos and house sparrows. The sparrows fly away as a group anytime they see us move inside. But we were able to take pictures and my partner sat at his desk right by the plant pots and they stayed for a good part of the day.

The food plate is right below the lilacs and the windows leach heat in the winter, so we've often had mourning doves hanging around on the shelves near the windows. But this was a first, even though it is so much cozier a spot than where they usually are. I guess it says something about the wind and temperatures as this was probably the first heavy snow this generation has seen.





One thing I always find neat is to see how night gets affected by heavy cloud cover and snow on the ground. For one thing, it stays remarkably bright, but also one can see in these pictures that it is darkest near the ground and then lightens as you go up. I think this creates a really unusual effect. You can see the tiny tree over on the left far back despite this being taken nearly at 11 PM.



After the second snowstorm, the ice that had gathered on trees before the snow came in could still be seen. One thing I like about pristine snow though is how it makes shadows stand out so well.





One of the recent sunsets. I liked the candy colors.



Two pictures I took yesterday of the same birds in the tree. The one I started this set with, I tried to saturate because it was remarkably black and white for a color photo! Even so, it just came out blue.

Still, I liked both of them -- they would be perfect for card covers.

Comments

[weofodthignen]

Good photos; and poor birdies.

[yourlibrarian]

Indeed! I guess we're really the last port in a storm.

[minoanmiss]

I'm saving this post for August.

[yourlibrarian]

Haha, I do that with my desktop wallpapers -- it's a wintery scene in summer and a summery one in winter 😉

[missizzy]

These are beautiful.

[yourlibrarian]

Thanks!

[ihavenoarms]

nice

[yourlibrarian]

Glad you liked them

[felis]

Oh, these are all great! I particularly love the night shot and the one with all the birds outside your window.

[yourlibrarian]

Heh, I love your upside down Tardis 😃 And yes, we keep hoping the birds will remember that there's a warmer perch for them available.

[cmcmck]

Great pics!

I love that second one!

[yourlibrarian]

Yes poor birdies, you can see behind them what a sheet of snow is falling but it was a nice surprise to see.

[sparowe]

I love winter, and ours is already on the way out, so thank you for sharing. These are beautiful. <3

[yourlibrarian]

Glad you enjoyed them!

[shirebound]

Thank you for sharing these marvelous shots with us. Word of your welcoming, sheltering, and nourishing balcony is certainly spreading! May Spring bring warmth to all of you very soon.

Oooooh, that sunset. Gorgeous.

[yourlibrarian]

Let's hope! And thanks 🙂

[turlough]

Wonderful photos! I always feel so sorry for the poor birds in awful weather. I'm glad these found a haven on your balcony.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, and the other critters. I'm always surprised that it isn't really obvious where the squirrels and rabbits are given they stand out against the snow and most of the trees and bushes are bare.

[scintilla10]

Love the bird photos! ♥

[yourlibrarian]

Glad you did!

[bemused_writer]

Ohh, that is some incredible scenery. Love the close up of the bird.

[yourlibrarian]

I was very glad I was able to get that shot since the birds were backlit and we didn't want to get too close for fear of scaring them off. But they stayed put that morning!

[silveradept]

Those are very nice pictures of a snow-covered space.

[yourlibrarian]

Thanks!

[tabaqui]

These are lovely! The first one in particular is so beautiful....

[yourlibrarian]

Oh thanks! Yes, I was pleased at how nice that looked. And the larger photo it was cropped from was really nothing special so it was quite a surprise.

[sudden_serenity]

Gorgeous photos! Thanks for sharing.

[yourlibrarian]

So glad you like them 😃