Cherish is my favorite word, and I cherish the ability of turning the routine into a beautiful moment.
Nature creates in me, a spiritual and meditative time to bring peace, harmony and balance, into an otherwise ordinary day~
Mary Howell Cromer







Sunday, February 9, 2014

Top of Birding Wish List, One of Two Done~

 

It has been a crazy week...more snow, an inch of icing atop the 8" of white stuff, and cabin fever holding strong. 
I got an alert that Snow Buntings were observed in a field about 16 miles from our home. 
It was about the only morning that we could get out of our drive way with any hope of not sliding into a ditch. 
For many years, Snow Bunting and Great Gray Owls were at the very top of my birding wish list. 
 I was thrilled for the opportunity of this rare visit to our area was really over the moon with excitement. 
When I arrived I saw a snow covered field and a few areas that had been scraped back and covered with fresh cracked corn and assorted bird seed. 
Then I spotted my first Snow Bunting, oh my goodness what beauties they are, really made me smile...so, so happy. 
Along with nearly a hundred Buntings, were many more Lapland Longspurs, and in the mix were also Horned Larks. 
What a swell treat, for all of these birds were new to me, and all of them were really beautiful to see.  In the mix was also a few Sparrows and I got to see a Song Sparrow which I have included at the end of this post.
I am thinking I may have seen them before, but not very often. 

The ice came and it is still here, some 5 days out now and no chance of it thawing any day this week.  We are anticipating another Winter storm this evening. 
The icing caused great damage in our 2 acres, but, that will remain for another post. 
I am still having my Google problems, but have figured out a way to upload my images and I am very thankful for that...

Hoping everyone is well. 
 


Remember to double click on the image, to view a larger slide show of the images shared
  
As well as I am linking up with Stewart at:
   Wild Bird Wednesday



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

24 comments:

  1. congrats on the snow buntings! and horned larks, too!

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  2. You got some wonderful close up pictures of the snow buntings, Mary. We have had them here this winter too but my pics were taken from the house. They move so fast and light for a few minutes then are off again. They are interesting to watch aren't they. I like your ice coated branches and berries too. They are so pretty. Have a great week.

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  3. Wonderful to get out for once and get such an amazing treat! So many wonderful snow birds and be-icicles trees, leaves and berries. Love the row of houses that ooh like a greeting-card drawing. I have fellow feeling for you and cabin fever. Here I have to have the insulating curtains drawn as well and I don't really like to spend a week at a time in darkness. In between we get a couple of milder days when we can air the house but then it is another stretch of 100+ days to follow.
    Great that you got a good look at the snow-buntings and all the other birdies as well my dear. So happy for you.

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  4. Great little birds and nice snow - thankfully its much cooler here now - though it's not snow cold!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Mlebourne

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  5. Wow..the icy berries are stunning and love all your bird shots, too!

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  6. Such beautiful photos in your collages today! We see the Snow Buntings here in the winter, but further north of town.

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  7. Gorgeous photos of your buntings! How happy they must have made you feel. With the winter you've had -- that's a good thing! xo

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  8. Well done Mary,two for the price of one trip.
    Stunning images.
    John.

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  9. Oh Mary
    These are wonderful images and I always 'click' to get the full picture!
    I can feel the cccold when I see the icicles and snow.
    Oh my goodness - I wonder where the wild birds feed? Are those red berries edible?
    As always your beautiful post has made my day!
    Shane

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  10. HI Mary Great that you were able to get out and get such wonderful shots of all these tiny birds especially the Snow Buntings. I love all the other shots of the berries, ice and snow.

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  11. A lovely bird-post. So many details to study!
    Nice!

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  12. Mary, I am so happy your problems are solved with blogger. These are all beautiful birds. I love the Snow Buntings and the Horned Lark. And I would LOVE to see a Lapland Longspur. Wonderful photos and post. Enjoy the rest of your week!

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  13. What a treat to see those birds, Mary! Isn't it interesting that the ice that brings such hardship, also brings so much beauty?

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  14. This is a really nice winter montage! I'm jealous of your cold weather birds, we don't see them here. Then again, we don't see snow or ice either! (Maybe I'd better be careful what I wish for.....)

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  15. Glad you captured so many different breeds.

    Thank you. Love love, Andrew. Bye.

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  16. I recognised the Snow Bunting, we get them over here too. Beautiful pictures Mary.

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  17. My goodness, Mary, such icy brilliance and Snow Buntings and houses, (which I'm sure are mansions), looking like little birdhouses in the distance! After countless images of icy coated leaves and buds and berries, all over blog land, ICE never fails to amaze me and your frozen foliage of these crystallized beauties are irresistibly alluring! The Snow Buntings look quite large, are they? In any case, they are definitely in their element, here, among this winter wonderland!

    Happy Valentine's Day and hope you get a chance to get some fresh air after that bout of cabin fever!

    Poppy
    PS: Also been meaning to add you to my 'Favourite Pastimes'; thanks for reminding me!

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    1. Good morning on Valentines Day Poppy. Those homes are amazing and they are in a really neat community. Very wealthy, and they have the neatest little Main Street with elegant shoppes. The Snow Buntings are not large at all.They are probably the same size as a Robin, but all fluffed out for the cold. They were so animated as they hopped, ran across the snow...just remelts my heart. Happy Day to you and Happy weekend~

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  18. Good to see you sorted your Google problem Mary. Let's hope things get back to normal for you soon, both blogging and weatherwise.

    What a wonderful selection of birds there are in that huge flock, all of them birds we might see here but never in those numbers. Here we call longspurs Lapland Buntings and Horned lark is known as Shore Lark but both are the same species. I've seen 3 Snow Buntings this winter and count myself lucky.

    Your pictures are brilliant, the lovely if slighly unwelcome icicles, deep snow and frosted berries - all so descriptive.

    The fine, coloured houses with the birds right in front makes for a wonderful scene fit for a Christmas card.

    Go easy on that cabin fever, I hope it warms up soon.

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    1. Thank you very much Phil. My blogger reading list is once again working after 2 days, but to upload these images... It is one at a time, rather than all of them together. I get an ERROR, I think it is 503, or 305 when I try to upload the old usual way for past 4 1/2 years. It has been like that a few weeks now and very frustrating.Google had sent me a prompt back then and I read it a couple of times, making sure that I understood what it meant and that is when it all went sour...Now I cannot even get to the e-mail part of my Google blogger and those group things, that I do not even understand anyway...so with that, a deep sigh and still trying to figure out how to get this righted again. More snow coming today and tomorrow...Happy Weekend~

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  19. Gorgeous! I love the shots of the ice on the branches and the berries.

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  20. All those wonderful new birds -- and so many of them, incredible. That picture of the houses with the birds in the snowfields in front is amazing... and the flight shots of the birds .. you are so good Mary!

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  21. As always dear Mary your photos make me gasp in wonder - I would just love to have the opportunity to see these birds in their natural habitat as you do!
    It's lovely to have a little peek at your nest too!

    I've always LOVED owls especially since seeing an exhibition by the Barn Owl Protection Society in Bournemouth in England. We do have a native owl in New Zealand called a Morepork but they live deep in the forest so rarely seen.
    Visiting fro Mary's Mosaic Monday!
    Shane

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  22. Wow Mary I love all your "icy" scenes and those birds! Wonderful mosaics!

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