Ready for Winter!(no photo)

[Poggi]

I know I am not alone down here in Massachusetts, waiting for winter! I had a real productive summer, and my spring and summer photos will be exhibited during the month of January at the Thomas Crane Library in Quincy, Mass. However,winter, bring it on! The warrior birds! Their size is not important! Chickadees, Nuthatches, Owls, (Snowy is my favorite), Harriers, etc. Let's not forget the Canada Goose! The often maligned, undocumented visitor from the North, who has set up residence here in the States. I suppose I am a neophyte, but I have yet to see a more graceful flyer. Their honking evokes memories of long cold winter nights, before a fire, under animal skins, in a time whose remnants exist only in our genes. Oh yeah! Bring on the snow, and the cold! Therein lies our real test! When it is over we will be better for it! In our search we find ourselves! The birds of summer will be a pleasant respite, beautiful in their own right, whilest we await the arrival of another band of warriors blown in on the winter wind.

[Anthony J Howe]

...and you know what Poggi I'm really looking forward to see some great bird shots of snow and particularly in my country the red breasted Robin.
I hope though I can shoot one with a long lens from my warm conservatory.

[ngannet]

Congrats on your photos to be exhibited, that is awesome! I do love the birds of spring. Certainly nothing beats the fiery red and jet black of a Scarlet Tanager. And our North American Warblers are as pretty as any tropical bird in my eyes. But I tell you Poggi, I for one can't wait for the colder days. I look forward to it all year. Less people out, more birds. Evenings of braving the fierce winds across the marshes waiting for Short-eared Owls, seeing Rough-legged Hawks hovering over a frozen field, or watching my first Iceland Gull blowing in from the ocean in wild Northeast winds. Some of my best birding experiences happen in Winter. Loons, Snowy Owls, Harlequin Ducks, Scoters, Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, Razorbills, more raptors, Tundra Swans and Snow Geese. These are the birds I wait for. Cold as it may be, it is such a rewarding time of year. For us in NJ, it is certainly the best time to observe massive amounts of waterfowl. And who has ever stood in the still winter night gazing at the stars listening to the call of a Great-horned Owl? Is there anything more stirring, more hauntingly beautiful? Personal goals for the Winter: to photograph a male Harrier, Razorbill, Black legged Kittiwake, Snow Bunting, Common Eider. Sorry for the rambling post!

[canonloader]

Very poetic, as I sit here shivering at my computer and wishing "I" had wings to fly south and out of this miserable abomination that nature has dumped on us for fully half the year.

I grew up where February can get to 40 below. Then I left as soon as I was old enough to leave on my own and spent half a lifetime where winter was just a nasty and dark memory of frostbite and running out of heating oil while the roads were impassable to even the snowplows.

And then I wonder why I ever came back. It certainly wasn't for the birds, since for every shivering and miserable bird up here in tundraland there are three basking in the sun of more temperate climes. ;)

[ngannet]

Haha, well, that's a bit extreme. 40 below is too cold, and I don't like heavy snow. Just means more work shoveling, etc.

[canonloader]

40 below is too cold, and I don't like heavy snow.
We must have been in one of those weather cycles when I was a kid. 50 years later, while I hate the fools in the government and big business, I at least thank them for causing global warming and the somewhat nicer weather that brings to this part of the world. :D