December 10, 2023: It Arrived

If winter was close last week, this week it arrived.

Looking north from the White Mountain Ledge.

Our first good snowfall came last Sunday night and it turned the lake into a winter wonderland ready for the Christmas season.

A Wicwas Christmas Card.

The snow was dense and wet and got plastered to everything it touched.  

Cold temperatures after the storm let it stay that way for days.  

Prior to the snow, everyone I spoke with had the same report about the birds - there were none at their birdfeeders.  Usually when we put up the bird feeders around the first of December it's only a matter of minutes before they find it, with the chickadees always the first.  But this year we had none - at least that we saw - for days.  When they did appear it was a single chickadee or a random titmouse.

Black-capped Chickadees are the first to find the feeders.

But when the snow covered the ground, suddenly they flocked to the feeder.  So far we've had chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, goldfinches, and juncos - no woodpeckers yet.  

After the initial rush the level of activity subsided as some of the snow melted and re-exposed patches of bare ground.  It appears the birds really do prefer to forage for natural food sources when it's available.  

A few weeks ago when I was walking at Page Pond I heard a bird song I only remember hearing previously at the top of a mountain, the "old Sam Peabody" call of the white-throated sparrow.  I couldn't convince myself that really was what I was hearing until later in the walk when I saw a little brown bird hopping around in the leaves.  I stopped and waited for it to expose itself which it kindly did on a rock and then a branch, and getting a good look, I decided it was in fact a white-throated sparrow.  

White-throated sparrow.

I've never had a good look at these birds in the mountains so didn't realize they have a bright yellow spot between the eye and the bill (an area called the "lore" in bird anatomy).  

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology range maps shows we are right on the line between their breeding and year-round ranges, so maybe I have seen them near the lake many times but never recognized them by sight.  I also learned that this species has two distinct morphs, one with a white line behind the eye (like the one I saw) and other morph with a tan line.  The two morphs have an equal share of the population because birds of one morph almost always select a mate with a bird of the opposite morph. It reinforces the old adage that opposites attract!

Snow on the ground gave away the fact that turkeys have been invading our yard.

The turkeys took a walk down the steps.

I knew they were around because I've seen their scratchings in the leaves where they've been uncovering acorns and other seeds.  The tracks show just how big these birds are.

A couple of cold nights with lows down in the teens put ice over much of the lake.  Perhaps you'll recognize some of these partially frozen shorelines.

Warm weather and rain today may erode the ice and send winter back north for a time, but it will return soon enough.  

Photo by Dave Thorpe