Saturday Snapshot: Life in the Snow

Some of you may still have roses in your garden and lush green lawn, but here in my neck of the woods, this is what we’re having… Exactly, with the snow falling.

Fish Creek ParkBut what did I find while birding recently? The woods teeming with life as in the summer sun. Take this buck, our curiosity is mutual:

Buck

Or this Blue Jay flying overhead:

Blue Jay flying overhead

This Pileated Woodpecker busy at work:

Pileated Woodpecker

Or this Black-capped Chickadee having fun:

Black-capped Chickadee

Or this Red-breasted Nuthatch lounging on two branches:

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Woodpeckers, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Robins, Blue Jays, Finches… They don’t migrate, but stay put and enjoy life where they are, even in deep winter when temperatures can easily dip below -20C.  This is their hood.

It’s me who want to fly away to somewhere warm.

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Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. Do click on the link to explore snapshots from other bloggers.

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Published by

Arti

If she’s not birding by the Pond, Arti’s likely watching a movie, reading, or writing a review. Creator of Ripple Effects, bylines in Asian American Press, Vague Visages, Curator Magazine.

56 thoughts on “Saturday Snapshot: Life in the Snow”

  1. Your photos are AMAZING! I especially love the last one of the Nuthatch. He reminds me of someone learning how to ski. 🙂

    No snow here yet, but it’s in tomorrow’s forecast. We sure need the moisture!

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  5. Arti, what a parade of wonderful photos of nature & wild life. Are you having fun Bird-watching, exploring the parks and trails? Bet you are!

    Thank you for sharing, they are priceless…..I await more postings from you….well done.

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  8. I like all your photos – I wish it would snow here. It did not snow at all last year; maybe we will be lucky this year. This morning was grey. We went to an estate sale as they advertized books, but they were not interesting. I bought a 1929 cookbook for 50 cents to see if I could find some new Christmas cookie recipes. This afternoon we are back in the 70s F and tomorrow 73 F (22 C at least.) If we don’t get snow by January we may have to drive to the North Carolina Mountains to see some there. I started a new book last night that I had bought at the library sale; it’s called The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Have a nice week-end.

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      1. Just finished the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society last night. I really liked it. I just went and read your review of the book. Good review – very perceptive. I agree with you, blogging now is like letter writing of olden days. Having a correspondence with a writer is exciting. Years ago I watched, on a whole Sundays, many reruns of a series on TV called The Flame Tress of Thika– (memory of an African childhood,) from the writings of Elspeth Huxley. I liked this so much that I went and bought her book, then once in London, I bought it with illustrations. After that I tried to find all the books written by her and found several, second-hands, but could not find all of them. So I wrote a note (a regular letter…) to Penguin Books in England and asked if they had some more. They forwarded my request to Elspeth Huxley herself and she wrote to me! I just could not believe it! She gave me the name of a second-hand book trader in England who specialized on African books (he is retired now) and along the years I must have bought a hundred books or more from him. I answered Elspeth, and she wrote back and we went like this several times until she passed away in 1997.

        Now I am going to take my husband to another doctor’s appointment and I am taking a new book from my shelf: “Mad World – Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead” by Paula Byrne. I found an old copy of Brideshead Revisited last January at an estate sale and really enjoyed the book. Have your read it?

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    2. Vagabonde,

      Must be exciting to correspond with a writer for years. Nowadays, Twitter makes it instant, and popular. But in the old days, the handwriting of the letter, mailing it and waiting for a reply add to the fondness and quality of correspondences.

      As for ‘Brideshead Revisited’, I listened to the audiobook read by Jeremy Irons, and that’s probably one of the best audiobooks I’d ever listened to. Here’s the link to my review post. I went on a WWI reading and watching streak after Downton Abbey Season 2 earlier this year. If you’re interested, here are the titles I’d covered.

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  11. Nice shots. I just love the little Red-breasted Nuthatches. I have some at my feeder now; they have been here for a month. We don’t usually see them this far south (seems odd to call Chicago south!). I’m told they will migrate in response to a food shortage. Apparently there isn’t enough natural food in Ontario this winter. They are welcome to stay here forever!

    Brrrrr. Snow. It’s on it’s way here any day now. 😦

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    1. Leslie,

      I didn’t know how they looked from afar. I used a tele lens so it’s only when I got home and cropped them before I knew their expressions. I was lucky to be able to capture these. Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment.

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  12. Those are all wonderful photos! It is difficult to get such nice shots of the wildlife, especially the birds. I’ve been trying to get a clear shot of a chickadee in the tree of my backyard and think I may have missed out for this year. He seems to be gone now. No snow here yet though.

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    1. Alyce,

      I used a 55-200mm tele lens… still not good enough to get the really far away birds. However, I’ve to make do by using some editing devices on my laptop. Nevertheless, I don’t change the saturation or color, just cropping and sharpness. Thanks for hosting Sat. Snapshots so I could practice some photo. skills. 😉

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  14. What lovely bird shots you got. I’d so love to see a woodpecker one day. And it’s always wonderful to see deer. It’s always hard to imagine the weather opposites on the other side of the world, we’ve plunged into a rather hot early summer down under.

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    1. Louise,

      The other day I was just about 10 ft. from a Pileated Woodpecker who was so busy pecking she/he wasn’t aware I was there taking a video using my iPhone. It was a delight. We see deer occasionally, more in the summer. They’re our neighbours, sharing nature with us… and so are all these birds.

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  16. It’s hard to imagine being cold again as we swelter in our sticky, summer heat! The woodpecker is flight is glorious 🙂

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    1. Rebecca,

      I’m not a fan either. Sighting these birds in nature is a consolation for being here. If I can’t fly away and migrate south, I might as well get used to the cold here, right? It’s been so many decades now… still trying to get used to the cold. Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment.

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  18. Oh, YAY, snow! We don’t get near as much of that here in Indiana as we used to (rain, rain and more rain–ick). And pictures are wonderful! I love the buck and the blue jay and the woodpecker and…well, all of them!

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  19. That nuthatch is so comical! All of your photos are so good. I do like the one of the bluejay flying. I just heard mine this morning. It won’t be long before they’ll be coming to the feeder for their pecans. It sounds as though it’s the same crew – the calls are coming from the same tree.

    I’m happy to report that although we have no snow in the offing (Oh, I wish we did!) we do have colder temperatures on the way. We’ll not get a freeze here at the coast, but The Weather People are muttering about lows in the 30s. Birders, hunters and winter lovers are rejoicing!

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    1. Linda,

      As I was saying in my reply to Rebecca, I’ve been living here for decades now, still adapting to the cold every winter. Unlike these birds… they’re quite something. Imagine them staying here and not migrating to the south … here with winter temp. below -20C some days. Hope your cooler days would be beautiful ones. Good to have those cooler temp. come Christmas time. I know, you won’t get snow, but at least the feel is more ‘Christmasy’.

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  20. These are great shots…. you can just get a sense of the cleanness of the winter air in all of them. I love the gorgeous buck, and the symmetry on the wings of the blue jay.

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  21. Amazing photos, Arti! I love the view of the blue jay, wings outstretched. And the nuthatch is so funny! Looks like he’s doing the splits. It’s pretty awesome that such tiny creatures can thrive in Canadian winters.

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  22. What a wonderful walk in the woods! We hang out a bird feeder in the winter and I do so love the chickadees. You won’t be flying off to get warm in Minneapolis we got a foot (30cm) of snow over the weekend and today the temperature is -11C with a windchill making it feel like -17C!

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    1. O wow Stefanie, I can’t imagine you’re having such weather. I thought I’m alone enduring the winter in snowy hinterland. And I bet it’s wet too in Minn? We have very dry air, and in the midst of deep cold, we can wait for the Chinook wind to warm us up.

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      1. We get really humid in the summer when the jet stream pulls up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico but in winter it all comes in from your snow-covered country and it gets very cold and desert dry.

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  23. I agree with the herd. Your photos rock. It’s only snowed once thus far in NYC this season — shortly after Sandy’s wrath, we had a Nor’easter that produced slippery sloppy slush that melted in a day. I’m sure Gotham’s big dirty dump, snow that is picturesque for about a New York minute, will be coming in the not too distant future. ‘Tis the season. Your neck of the woods with its hearty wildlife is much prettier.

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    1. lameadventures,

      Good to hear from you again! Yes, here the air is fresher and the snow whiter. But then again, the main reason being there aren’t as many people here… actually, nothing much is happening in my neck of the woods. The birds are busier than humans. So, to trade a pristine peace and quiet, I’m losing on the many events and going-ons in the Big Apple. You win some, you lose some.

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  25. Ooh, I love that chickadee photo with feathers spread. I was waiting for my flight at the Long Beach airport gate when a little chickadee hopped down the aisle. He was a long way from a window so I hope he found his way home. Yes, it’s true, I’ve got roses blooming now.

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    1. nikkipolani,

      We get lots of Chickadees in our area. I’ve taken so many photos of them that we I see another one, I don’t bother with another photo. They’re strong considering it’s always minus temp. here in the winter.

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  26. I’m not a big snow fan (so why do I live in Michigan) but when I see stunning photos like your birds and that deer, I simply gasp. They make winter sing, don’t they? That chickadee and the woodpecker — beautiful. Oh, they are ALL beautiful! I long for spring — till I see photos like this!

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    1. Thanks Jeanie! Hope one day you can come for a visit. I’ll be most glad to show you around my neck of the woods… and a bit further, to Banff and Lake Louise.

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