Feathered Friday - Warm Winter
It's been a fairly warm winter for this #featheredfriday
So far we haven't had any snow that really sticks around for more than a day or so. The birds are loving this weather. Sparrows are all over the place hiding next to the lake in the reeds and thickets.
A sunspot was a perfect opportunity for this house sparrow to warm up a bit before the gray clouds covered it again.
This great blue heron warmed up in the sun as well and fished in an area of the lake without any ice.
Here's a puffed up barred owl trying to keep cool in the forest area near the lake. It might pick off a squirrel later on if they aren't careful.
As usual there is loud honking in the air as Canadian geese arrive to swim at the lake.
The geese on the ground also honk loudly to let the ones in the air know where to land.
Fortunately for the geese only the outer edges of the lake are frozen. They won't have to try and land on hard ice.
These two in the water were watching me both at the same exact angle. They shorten their necks like this in the winter to keep warm. In summer they stretch out their necks as far as possible.
All the frost is melted on the grassy banks. Now they geese can get their breakfast and warm up in the sun at the same time.
That's all for now, thanks for looking :-)
Nice shots. Especially the heron. The details really pop on the heron.
Heron's must have an internal thermometer that forces them to migrate at a certain temperature. Its definitely one of the warmer winters I've seen around here. I thought about staying longer to see if it would actually catch a fish but its not that warm out.
says your internal thermometer haha
I love that you captured a photo of the blue heron and the owl. We don't see them very often here but they are around our lake too.
The owls are tricky to spot. I usually start looking for them when I hear the squirrels do their squaww sounds. In summer we get night and green herons too but they are way more shy than the great blues that you can walk right up to.
I thought that only here the weather is warmer than normal, but I see that it is almost everywhere, the animals enjoy it, they look happy so it is not so bad, although I do not like this humid heat, I do not want to imagine how it will be for the month of March 🥵
I suspect things will be back to normal freezing temperatures by the end of this month. Summer never really gets that hot here fortunately.
Warm winter is not a good time for birds. They have thick feathers and are too warm
Its like going to the beach for them.