Steve and I drove through starved rock state park in the snow storm today (yes, it was too beautiful yesterday to last- we all knew the snow was coming back!) anyway, finally got a few shots of a bald eagle in flight. Not the best shots- still kind of shaky with the long lenses- but I finally got pictures that you can actually see that it is an eagle! (Here was my first attempt at an eagle a few years back)
Sean and I went for a little stroll this afternoon to soak up some long awaited sunshine and enjoy the 40 degree temps….
Another two inches of snow early this morning. It looks pretty, but I’m ready for spring.
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| house finches, lady cardinal and junco |
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| snow covered squirrel |
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| typical position for a nuthatch |
I finally had a bluejay stick around long enough for me to get a few good pictures. Usually they are a grab and dash kind of bird.
Here is it January of 2015 already. Where did the year go?
Actually I’m glad to see last year go. It started out okay but ended pretty lousy. I was hollering for a do over towards the end there, but now I’ll just opt for a fresh start.
Now here we are, a fresh snow and good ole bitter cold to go with it. For a little while there I thought Mother Nature was going to take it easy on us this winter. I was enjoying the temps in 40’s, especially over Christmas- but alas, we do live in Illinois!
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| Morning after last night’s storm- about 6 inches of powder snow |
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| seeing double- pair of chickadees |
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| a Cold Mourning Dove |
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| Blue Jay |
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| Black Capped Chickadees |
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| Mourning Doves |
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| House Finch |
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| Downy Woodpecker |
I want to grow a few bald cypress’ for my yard next spring,
so we went cone hunting Saturday.
The bald cypress is so named because it is one of the few cypress’
that loose their leaves in the fall
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| My source tree. Lovely orange fall color- though most of the leaves are gone. |
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| This tree is loaded – no climbing though, tons of cones were already on the ground. |
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| Cones are small and sticky, smelling strongly of turpentine. Seeds are the amber colored chunks inside the broken cone. |
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| I think I got enough – maybe… |
I’ll plant them now, letting winter do the stratifying for me and have little saplings by spring!
My daughter made us some Owl cupcakes the other night. They are almost too cute to eat- but we are getting over that. They are delicious!
She made the chocolate cupcakes from scratch but all you need are:
Enough frosted cupcakes to make everybody happy
Oreos
fall colored M&M’s
Just split your Oreos, place two on cupcakes, add M&M’s in the right places and cut the left over top part of the Oreo in two and place as eyebrows.
Easy Peasy!
Our Morning temps have been dipping into the 40’s all month. The poor little humming birds are puffed up trying to stay warm and staying close to the feeders. This little girl stayed at the feeder all morning.
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| I have an itch… |
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| waiting for a turn at the feeder |
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| still waiting… |
Lil's Garden Tour 