The Only Snow in Winter

 Mourning Dove

This year we got a whole whopping 8 inches of snow. That is ridiculous. Last year we got nearly seven feet! These are the only shots I was able to take in the snow. Despite the lack of snow cover the the 17 Ladies who Brunch and the now Four Males who Court Them (my wild turkeys) were regular visitors to my feeders and were still to be found on my second floor deck or lurking high up in the trees in the back yard. They put on an amazing courtship show way back in January, though the ladies didn't really care. Yet. The Cooper's Hawk was back looking for a song bird blue plate special on regular occasions. The Blue Jays disappeared all winter. Two are back. I had six. They do migrate but there are theories that the lack of acorns made their populations crash. We did have a very odd autumn. And now the end of our very odd winter has come. I've had flowers in my garden for a month. That is insane in Massachusetts.

 Junco female

 

 Junco female

 

 Junco male

Frozen Lake

Cooper's Hawk. This hawk is amazing. I watched it use a cat and my herd of turkeys to distract the songbirds before grabbing a sparrow for breakfast. About 2 weeks later I watched it very stealthily drop down branch by branch onto the ground and stalk house sparrows just like a cat.