common_nature | Entries tagged with season: winter

It's been a long time since I've had Long-Tailed Tits (Aegithalos caudatus caudatus) visiting my feeders in winter but now they're suddenly here every day. It started Saturday with only two of them:

Click to enlarge:

two small white and black birds with long tail feathers feeding on fatballs

Every day they brought more and more friends and this morning there were ( five of them... )

Current Mood: happy

turlough

Was suprised to see the first Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) by a house wall this morning. While it hasn't been really cold, it hasn't been particularly warm either, and I haven't seen any anywhere else. This is a rather sheltered, southward facing spot though and I suspect the house (it's quite old) isn't very well insulated.

Click to enlarge:

tiny white drop-shaped flowers against a grey wall

Current Mood: surprised

ysabetwordsmith

This afternoon I went outside intending to fasten the decorative wagonwheel, but it was half-buried under snow. I noticed the view looked pretty, though, so I went back for my camera and took pictures instead.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

The sun came out, so now the snow sparkles and much wildlife sign is visible. This set of pictures shows the north end of the house yard, driveway, and Midwinter Grove. Cottontail rabbits like this area, as shown by their tracks. (See also House Yard, Savanna, and Back Toward the House.)

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

Here are more pictures, mostly from the savanna and prairie garden. (See also the House Yard and South Lot, Midwinter Grove, and Heading Back Toward the House.)

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

For our Yule ritual this year, we planted our new hollies in the Midwinter Grove.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

pauraque

This cute little redhead is an American Tree Sparrow. They're winter-only birds for us in New England, migrating south into the US after breeding in northern Canada. Their arrival after our summer songbirds have moved on is a welcome marker of the changing seasons here. I usually see them foraging in small groups, and there were two more with this one out of frame.

rufous and buffy sparrow stands on the ground looking towards the camera

rufous and buffy sparrow stands on the ground looking towards the camera

Despite the name, they are most often seen on the ground. They got their English name from settlers who thought they looked like the also-redheaded but unrelated Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

ysabetwordsmith

I took some pictures of the yard and the new holly bushes before planting.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: busy

signoftea

It snowed today, and I was wondering what the beach would look like covered in snow, so I went for a walk to see it. It was very pretty!

The migratory birds are here now, and some of them spend the winter at the shore. I spent some time watching a flock of sanderlings and turnstones as they were looking for food in the mud. Some crows kept following them around. It looked like the smaller birds were scared of the crows and tried to avoid them. There were many seagulls, too. My birding app even registered the call of a loon! Loons normally live in North America and Iceland, but some of them migrate to Europe during the winter months.

pauraque

I saw this pair of American Black Ducks recently.

two brown ducks swim on a pond

Widespread in the eastern US and Canada, they're often mistaken for female or nonbreeding male Mallards, since they're the same size and shape and have similar markings. It was nice to get a good clear look at some of the differences. Their bodies are darker than the typical Mallard (though not actually black) with contrastingly pale heads. The male (with the yellow bill) has no white or curly tailfeathers and not even a smudge of green on his head. The female's bill is olive-gray with no orange on it.

( The female also helpfully displayed her wing patch when she was preening )

ysabetwordsmith

I took some pictures of the wildflower garden today after I finished cleaning it up. I leave things through the winter because some of the plants, like the northern sea oats and echinacea, have seeds for wildlife. I pick off and plant a lot of the seeds but never get around to all of them. Goldfinches especially like to cling to the seedheads and peck out the seeds.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

Today I took some pictures of the sprouting flowers in my yard.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: accomplished

pauraque

I took this video late last year of river otters at a small lake where I often walk. It was my first time seeing them in the wild!

Watch on YouTube

Video description: Two otters swim along a frozen shore. One heaves itself up on the ice and eats a fish. Two others swim and dive in the background.

turlough

Usually I only see their tracks in the snow but on my walk today I spotted these three Roe Deers (Capreolus capreolus) and managed to shap a photo before they spooked and ran off.

Click to enlarge:

Current Mood: mellow

pauraque

I took these pictures at Shelburne Bay, which is part of Lake Champlain. I think the ice looks so cool along the shore, especially when it encases the coastal plants and rocks.

icicles drip from a thin tree branch encased in ice dangling into the water

icicles drip from a thin tree branch encased in ice dangling into the water

( Read more... )

linky

Three starlings resting in some branches.

Spotted many starlings, as well as what I believe to be a lapland longspur in the trees today. Took some pictures with my phone. Three more images under the cut, including the one with the bird I think is a lapland longspur. But it was so far away and I wasn't able to see it's entire body so it's hard for me to guess, so please feel free to let me know if I am mistaken!

( Read more... )

turlough

In England the Robin might be the Christmas bird par excellence, but here in Sweden it's the Bullfinch so even though it's a week until Advent I still thought it very apt that the first birds I saw on my feeder this wintry morning were two male Bullfinches (Pyrrhula pyrrhula).

two red, black, and grey birds on feeder

Current Mood: cold

turlough

On my walk this afternoon I was lucky enough to get a passable photo of a Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) before it had disappeared further up the tree. As you can see from its greyish fur and the enormous ear tufts it's already grown its winter coat.

small grey & reddish-brown animal in evergreen tree

Current Mood: grateful

turlough

This morning a Jay (Garrulus glandarius) showed up at my bird feeders for the first time ever.

Click to enlarge:

beige-pink, blue, and black & white bird on the ground

Current Mood: impressed

violsva

A small black and white woodpecker on a bare tree branch against a bright clear sky.

I saw this bird while walking home from the library. The other birds around here are also getting more active and noisy, even though there's still most of a foot of snow on the ground and more predicted this weekend.

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Common Nature

wonder and joy and mystery in everyday things

Entries tagged with season: winter

adorable tits

early snowdrops

Photos: Winter Sunset

Photos: Midwinter Grove

Photos: Savanna and Prairie Garden

Photos: Hollies Planted

American Tree Sparrow

Photos: Hollies

Nature diary

American Black Ducks

Wildflower Garden

Sprouting Flowers

North American river otters

Roe deers

ice on Lake Champlain

Up In The Trees

winter birds

squirrel up a tree

a new visitor

Woodpecker!

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April 2025

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