Wednesday, January 28, 2015

A Second Look--January 28, 2015

Snow, more snow, and again more snow. That's what the weather's been like for a couple of weeks now. We're not having more snow like some of my relatives in New England--measured in the double digits, but it seems like every couple of days we have some kind of frozen precipitation. Because of that, I haven't gotten out much to see what's been going on in my yard. However, I did have some drama today right outside my window.

Recently, I've started to see a few starlings at the feeders and saw another one today. While the starling was eating, a hawk swooped down trying to catch it. The starling immediately flew into our glass door trying to get away, but quickly recovered and flew away from the hawk. The hawk returned to the sky and circled again. And that's all I saw. I don't know the fate of the starling or the hawk. I'm not sure I want to know. While I totally understand the natural balance of predators and prey, I don't really like to watch this action happen. Another time I'll tell you about a hawk after a young rabbit in our yard. I'm not sure how that one turned out either. I stopped watching after the first time the rabbit escaped.

Here a few things I saw this week 
during a Second Look.

I don't know the fate of this starling.


Stream from a hike we took last weekend.


The backyard during one of the snows.


White-breasted Nuthatch


After a morning snow, we had blue skies yesterday afternoon.


12 comments:

  1. Very pretty! We even had snow flurries yesterday...nothing managed to stick, but it was beautiful to watch.

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    1. Snow is beautiful. It's the roads and snow that's the problem.

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  2. Not a speck of snow here! Your photos are beautiful.
    We were sitting outside on Sunday and could here birds chirping. This is early for our area, usually a February thing.

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    1. It's only the end of January so there are all kinds of possibilities yet for all of us. However, I hope your mild winter holds out

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  3. Looks like you've been getting the snow lately while we've been having a quiet spell. We had so much snow earlier this month that there's still a good amount on the ground, but the roads, thankfully, are clear.

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    1. Our snows come and go, come and go. We never get enough that lots of it stays around, especially since we occasionally get above freezing.

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  4. Your back yard resembles my property at the moment. I think winter is beautiful but there's no way I can wander around like I used to so I really appreciate your second look photos.

    I too hate watching the larger prey birds going after the smaller ones. Last summer we all had a shock while watching three turkey vultures flying over head. There was a group of us sitting together watching our children. When all of a sudden one of the turkey vultures flew down and grabbed at my grandson's hair. All the children then gathered around the adults and that darn turkey vulture dive bombed our heads several more times. We all headed inside for a while until they were gone. I'd never experienced anything quite like that.

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    1. I've had blue birds dive bomb me while trying to protect their young. I wonder if that is what the turkey vultures were doing. The bluebirds scared me, so I can only imagine how scared I would have been with a turkey vulture coming after me.

      I'm glad you enjoy the pictures. I really enjoy your project pictures, also.

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  5. Oh wow, it looks cold! Sounds like you had a dramatic week!

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    1. The anticipation was more dramatic that the actual events. Seems like that is the way that it usually works out.

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  6. Beautiful pictures! I would love a nice snow, but it is beautiful here right now so I'm happy with that also.

    At the lake we have a tree where a golden eagle regularly dines. Fortunately by the time he gets there the chase is long over, so we just watch a majestic bird have breakfast.

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    1. Have you see the eagle nests? I've only seen a couple and they are quite large.

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What do you think?