SNOW

In the early morning sunlight, the piles of snow on furniture looked 10" high. A drift blocked the North door and window but little snow caps on the feeders attested that the snow seemed to have fallen fairly straight.  Icicles showed that our attic insulation could be better.  The creek was coated with gray that I assume was a slush of snow and water that froze overnight.  Oddly, the lake did not appear to be fully iced over because I spotted a female hoodie paddling toward the dam. Pines were clotted with snow and even leafless trees had snow piled wherever there was a hollow space.  Clumps blew down and made craters in the snow.

A mixed flock of juncos and white throats hunted fallen seeds on top of the snow.  The orioles had cleared the jelly dish of snow but the barkbutter dish held a sculpture several inches high.  It dismayed a Carolina wren.  Starlings got at the suet which had become tipped up.  A myrtle warbler joined a starling.   House finches were greedy for seeds but bluebirds were bigger.  The white throats finally got up on the various perches.  Blue jays were around but didn't come close since there were no barkbutter balls.  A mockingbird visited the seed feeder. 

Clouds moved in after breakfast and some fresh snow fell in the late morning.  Wind gusts shook clumps from the trees that made craters where they landed.  The gusts also started blowing the snow around.  Two female cardinals argued.  Pine and myrtle warblers fought all day, as did starlings.  A brown headed nuthatch visited briefly.  Even juncos got up on the seed feeder.  The male oriole refused to be intimidated by a starling.  He put up with warblers but left when the female wanted a turn at the suet.  Bluebirds and house finches joined the ground crew. 

In the late afternoon the overcast broke apart, but the individual clouds looked rather threatening even with sunset tints.  What I thought was a bird turned out to be a drone.  Earlier, I think a pelican flew past but of course the iced-over creek drew no waterfowl.  The newspaper collected snow height reports from around the region.  The total precipitation for the first three weeks of February has been 5.64".