Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Where is our snow?

I miss it. Last year at this time we had well over a foot of snow on the ground, and when I looked out our living room window, I had cute little birds like this staring back at me...

...an American Goldfinch in the snow.

...he's killing me with the head tilt! That little move ratchets up the cute-o-meter like nothing else...

Male American Goldfinches are always pretty, especially in the summer when their breeding plumage glows gold in the sun, but in the winter, when they return to their basic plumage, they fade to an olive brown with only a hint of their former glory around their eyes and neck. Suddenly, they blend with the browns and greys of dead winter and barely raise a second glance, but when snowflakes fall and they sit with a backdrop of bright white snow, they once again glow gold and demand attention!

"I'm a ball of fluff, and I can melt any heart..."



Yesterday we had three flakes of snow. It was supposed to be an inch, but it fizzled into rain. I have snow gear galore—boots, gloves, down pants and a down coat, and a panda bear hat to top it all off—but unfortunately, no where to wear it! Hurry up and get here snow...

(I took these photos 12-12-10. We had snow, snow, snow then.)

About our rain...
We've had our wettest year on record. It has rained almost every other day this year...about 72 inches of rain, which scored us another record—the wettest city in the nation's top 100 largest cities. My hubby, Rick, filled me in on the stats last week. We normally get 137 days of rain. This year, we've had 187 days. If only all the rain this month had been snow... :-)

P.S. Happy Birthday, Dad!!!

25 comments:

  1. Hi Kelly...The birdie's are so cute in the snow especially for the photographer...lol I don't know how the bird's feel! ; }These are lovely!!
    We have no snow either or we did have a couple of inches until last nights driving rain of 1 inch or more (That is equivalent to a foot of snow) and the wind blew so hard the house and everything possible rattled!!
    So snow ...gone, and 45 degrees...just crazy !!
    Grace

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  2. Lovely images from last year. Still waiting for the snow here too, it's been so mild the garden is well stocked but birdless at the moment.

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  3. Kelly we are in Ohio and glad for no snow! The birds are cute!!

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  4. What a little beauty he is.

    No snow here either Kelly.
    The worlds climate has gone mad.

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  5. Those are great Goldfinch photos. They're such a cute little bird. And that's just a ton of rain you've had. We haven't had much snow yet either. I think it's coming though.

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  6. Oh, yes, that little guy is a cutie.

    Yesterday the rain wasn't much fun here at all. It was blowing and cold so hard to get anywhere on foot. We were out for a short time, but it would have been a good day to stay home.

    A little snow for photo ops would be nice, then it can melt before we have to drive. ;)

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  7. it is maddening! you get so much rain; texas gets almost none for the same period! mother nature, please even out your moods for 2012!

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  8. Be careful what you wish for!!

    Love those "finchie" shots too. He's playing you, you realize that, right? He wants more seeds!!

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  9. I love these shots! We've got snow here, but no cute little goldfinches.....

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  10. Up here, we are down over FOUR FEET of snow so far this year. It is devastating to the local businesses that rely on the snow. We got about a 1/4 " yesterday. At least it finally covered up the brown.
    Sigh!

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  11. Yeah, PA's having its wettest year on record, too. And still no snow in these parts, except for that freak storm in October. It's very depressing! But I'm making lemonade out of lemons - I went out on a shoot today and took shots of the bleak landscape and processed them as slightly sepia-ed b&w shots, almost like a Calotype. They'll be up on my blog in a little bit.

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  12. cute-o-meter sounds good! These gold-finches melt my heart too and as you say with a snowy backdrop what superb photos! Look forward to your snowie pics sure to come.

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  13. AWWW, what a sweetie! Great photos. I wish you and your family a very Happy and healthy New Year!

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  14. We had been away from hom for 6 out of the last 8 weeks helping out one of our daughters, who has been ill. Even though I put bird food out Tuesday morning when we got home, nothing came to the feeders until finally this afternoon I saw a couple of nuthatches and titmouse, and then on the back porch there were two goldfinch. We did get snow our first day at home, and it was so beautiful to see. I guess I need to unpack the camera.

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  15. What great pictures of the goldfinch, it is indeed a ball of fluff. Great shots. Too bad about the lack of snow, raining here too!

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  16. YES! I AGREE, KELLY...WHERE IS OUR SNOW?

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  17. Guess we're not the only ones having a warm winter! We finally got a decent cold front yesterday and it's out of the 80s! Your little goldfinch is a darling. Beautiful photos as usual.

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  18. Hi Kelly

    You are correct that little Goldfinch is quite the fluffy heart breaker. We do have a bit of snow but in our holiday travels across two provinces we went from areas that had much less then normal to areas that had none.

    Happy New Year
    Guy

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  19. we also do not have the snow we usually have. it has been over 40F lately and the little snow we have is almost gone and I am pondering whether to mow the lawn ;-)

    Your photos are lovely
    wishing you snow and a lovely 2012~

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  20. Kelly, Your wonderful photos never cease to amaze me--absolutely spectacular. The gold finch is always a treat to watch. It WILL snow soon--you can count on it. Happy New Year. Mickie ;)

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  21. Kelly we did not have snow for Christmas either, but I think it was good because it would add extra stress to driving when shopping and when visiting during Xmas. However, right after we got white holidays. Hope you had a very good Xmas. Wishing you and yours and your Matty happy new year. All the best! Anna :)

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  22. yes it sure has been wet wet wet it seems. that fluff-ball finch photo is so so cute.
    birds just amaze me !

    - KAT -

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  23. thanks, everyone. "Winter" American Goldfinches are always so sweet to watch. Still no snow here, but the temps are rumored to drop and snow may fly yet!

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  24. Hi Kelly,

    We are having a crazy warm winter this year. I can't remember a warmer winter since the time I was 6 years old and got a new sled for Christmas!

    I'm just getting caught up with your recent posts since I was off the grid for 11 days.

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