Our resident Pygmy Owl has made his presence known again in the yard. He joins the young Sharp-shinned Hawk in making life interesting for the smaller birds, and they both provide a source of entertainment for the jays who delight in tormenting them.
Backlit as he is, only his silhouette is distinctive. This is a beautiful little deadly predator.
This was a very bird-filled day. The first thing Dan saw this morning when he opened his eyes was a Ruffed Grouse perched on the tiptop of the bare Aspen trees. A few minutes later, a woodpecker of some description was whacking on the side of the house, and jays were screaming through the woods. We saw a small flock of quail snacking on gravel and running around looking confused. They excel at that looking confused activity.
Stark white and gray, bereft of their shimmery golden leaves, these branches tower above our windows. Soon they will capture falling snowflakes to replace their leaves.
Covering the ground beneath the trees, remnants of leaves remain.
When the gold is faded and the fallen leaves are rimmed with frost, they resemble antique coins.
Standing tall above the fallen leaves, ripe grasses wave in the slightest breeze. Their gold color reflects that lost by the trees.
Small finch like Goldfinches love this type of grass. Their tiny body weight bends it over while they busily harvest the seeds, only to stand tall again when the bird moves to the next clump.
Sparkling in the cold crisp air, commonplace grass takes on a shine and shimmer, and the color intensifies.
This is what grass would look like if it was made of spun glass. Soon it will be buried in a blanket of snow.
The hills around us have a dusting of snow on the top; distant mountains have more than a dusting. Tomorrow we have a weather prediction for 100% chance of precipitation. Considering the fact it reached the freezing mark for our high temperature today, we can make a very good guess as to what form this take.
Even now, as the sun has set, not a cloud is in the sky. The solar panels were happy today, producing copious amps to fill the batteries, and let me cook in the gas range using the power of the sun.
The second thing Dan saw when he got up this morning was one very excited and proud cat. Mish had caught a mouse and wanted Dan to throw it for him to chase since the mouse was too tired to make the effort. Dan threw the toy mouse, and Mish took off after it like a shot. But then, the jig was up. Dan said Mish turned around and gave him a look that said, “Hey! I been robbed!”
This what a deadly predator looks like after a busy night defending the castle.
Earlier this week, Terry really wanted a bath, and so we turned on the shower for her. She was one happy creature. Mish really wanted to know what his sibling was doing, and as he was being overly curious about the shower, when Terry was done I didn’t drain the tub, I added a cat. I didn’t get scratched at all; Mish was too busy trying to disprove the theory of gravity.
She gleams. One perky parrot. And she didn't mind sharing her leftover shower water. She laughed when Mish scampered into the livingroom shaking all four feet. A wicked sense of humor.
beautiful reminds me of ohio. haven’t seen snow in over 30 years except on tv.
Beautiful pics, it’s almost my turn to have snow 🙂