Turkey Tracks in the Snow.

1-29-18 VERMONT: The end of January is in sight, will anyone miss it when it’s gone? We had a couple of warm days, in the forties, but now it’s back below freezing.

We had dinner in town with Shari and Dave last night, and John was here for dinner the previous night. Ken arrives today, and we go back to town for tonight’s dinner.

I snowshoed around the pasture with the dogs on one of the warm days. The icy crust is so thick that the dogs stay on top most of the time, only breaking through the crust occasionally. When I threw tennis balls for the Goldens, the balls flew along the ice, giving the dogs a good run. Where there were dustings of drifted snow on top of the icy crust, I saw bird footprints, big ones, as big as the dogs foot prints. Probably turkey tracks, crows have three forward toes and a fourth tow pointing backward.

The dogs are early risers, usually up at first light, we would rather sleep in a bit, but sometimes the sunrise is worth it. I got a couple pink pix on Saturday.


The dogs are always early risers, so sometimes we get an early morning surprise.

Pink and blue.

The snow is covered with a layer of ice, making everything too bright and shiny.

Bird tracks between Gus and the ski pole. Those prints are as big as Gus'. Turkey, I assume.

Here's a better picture of the foot prints. The spacing and size means a big bird.

The snow cover is thin and the bare spots around the trees are getting bigger.

Cold Day in VT .

1-26-18 VERMONT: We arrived yesterday and had the usual bunch of chores and repairs to do. Judy was in town while I re-stocked the wood holder in the living room, chopped through the ice on the deck to get that door open, also cleared two other doors, disconnected the broken dishwasher for removal, defrosted an iced-up de-humidifier in the old house basement and spread sand on the icy driveway and front steps.

It was in the teens with a bit of wind outside, but cloudless and sunny.

The newly filled bird feeder attracted only a few chickadees today.

The snow level is lower than when we left last month, and the spots under the trees on the south facing slopes are snow free There was rain on top of the snow cover, and it later froze forming a hard, icy crust on top of the snow. Even the dogs have trouble walking up hill.

Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer.


Snowy Kinsman, Cannon and Lafayette on the horizon. Pix with the new camera taken from the deck. Those are very White Mountains.

Moosilauke through the trees.

Warmer Days.

1-21-18 SHORT HILLS: We have had two days of warm, mostly sunny weather that has melted almost all the snow. The warm snap is supposed to last for a few more days.

The yard is full of robins, two dozen, at least. They are all acting like robins. They’re standing on the grass, running a few feet and then standing in one place again, finding something to peck at and eat on the ground. They are poking around in the dead leaves, flipping them away and eating something in the dirt. I wouldn’t have thought that there would be much bug or earthworm activity in mid-winter, but they are onto something.

There was a lone European Starling, first one since the fall, doing the same stuff as the robins. Starlings will go to the feeders, but I have never seen a robin at the feeder or eating seeds from the ground under the feeder.

We had dinner with Bill and Lynn at one of our new favs, Marcus Samuelsson’s B & P restaurant on Halsey St. in Newark.

Last night we were back in that same neighborhood at NJPAC to hear the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Pinchas Zuckerman conducting and playing violin in Beethoven’s ‘Violin Concerto’. They opened with the ‘Overture to Der Freischütz’ by Carl Maria von Weber and finished with Dvořák’s ‘Symphony No. 7’. Nice program, we loved it.


The first starling of the season. It is browsing like the robins and not at the feeders.

Robin poking around in the leaves.

Dinner at Marcus Samuelsson's B & P restaurant in Newark.

Another robin, one of two dozen working the grass and dead leaves.

Cardinal at the feeder a couple days ago before the snow melted.

It Snowed Again.

1-18-18 SHORT HILLS: We had another snow. The temps were hovering in the low thirties and the snow/rain mix only amounted to a couple inches that froze when it got cold last night. Late in the afternoon, it partially cleared, and we had a nice sunset. This morning many of the trees have shed the snow, and I hope there wasn’t too much damage to the shrubs.

When all the shrubs and trees are coated with snow, the birds swarm the feeders as the most available meal.

The red-bellied woodpecker is a beautiful, large bird named for a barely evident characteristic. There must be a better, more appropriate name—suggestions, anyone?


New snow, only a couple of inches, but it's heavy and wet.

Tufted titmouse is among the birds that swarm the feeders when everything is snow covered.

Scenes like this keep me from seeing snow as just a nuisance that needs shoveling, plowing and slow driving.

Red-bellied woodpecker, male, is named for a minor trait, barely evident most of the time.

Slate-colored junco.

Downy woodpecker, looks a lot like the hairy woodpecker, but, like this one, has a smaller beak and small, black marking on the lateral tail feathers to make the ID.

After snow/rain all day, the sky cleared enough for a sunset.

Mid-Winter Birthdays.

1-15-18 SHORT HILLS: Eleven of us had dinner at Gotham Bar and Grill Saturday night to celebrate Val’s, Steve’s, Dan’s and my birthdays, all of them occurring within a few weeks of each other. Much wine and food was consumed, the staff was very attentive. Those attending, by initials were, A, A, D, G, H, J, L, L, S, S and V. Pix are on FB with everyone tagged.

Anna, Gardner and Gardner’s cousin. Helen, left the dinner right after dessert to drive to Hershey, PA to overnight before going to the Jaguars/Steelers game on Sunday. I suspect they enjoyed the game more than the Steelers fans did.

We are back in the deep freezer for at least a few days. It might warm up tomorrow, and snow might fall. Today, January 15, is half way from the end of November to the beginning of March.

I have a new camera, Nikon P900, and some new bird pix are up on the blog. So far, I’m pleased with it.


Go Jags!

There are no sports teams nicknamed squirrels are there? This one is eating a holly berry.

Goldfinch in winter clothes.

House finch still has color in winter.

A Taste of Spring.

1-12-18 SHORT HILLS: It’s in the sixties and raining heavily. The snow is gone, almost completely. The ground has thawed, and it smells like spring. If it wasn’t pouring, I would be outside in shirt sleeves. Winter is due back in a couple days, with a vengeance.

The robins have been back. There is a small flock of four or five who were here for a hour or so yesterday. They were eating the berries of an Asian holly, which are small and black. They did not go to the feeders or eat sunflower seeds under the feeders. I’ve never seen them here in January before.

We saw ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ at the Met on Wednesday. We have seen this production before and the previous one as well. I love it. The music is great, the plot farcical, but strangely topical with all the recent sexual misconduct reveals. The abuse of power by the privileged made it controversial in its time, but is still applicable today.

The three women, Nadine Sierra, my new favorite soprano, Isabel Leonard and Ailyn Pérez were all in extraordinary voice. It was a delight to be there. Unfortunately there were a lot of empty seats.

I am reading the transcript of the testimony by Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS that was released by Di Fi. He sounds quite credible and Christopher Steele is described as a ‘boy scout’, which makes their reports very believable. I'll put the link on FB.

There are three of four or five robins eating berries on this Asian holly. These berries are small and black.

Robins again. I don't ever remember them here in January.

No snow, just a lot of rain. It's warm, and the air smells of earth, loam and spring.

The set for 'Le Nozze di Figaro'. The stage rotates to present four different venues. This is the Countess' bedroom.

The cast at the end of the opera. That's Figaro, Ildar Abdrazakov, taking a bow. Ailyn Pérez's head is visible behind him, and Nadine Sierra is in red, and Isabel Leonard, in black, is to her left.

Heat Snap.

1-8-18 SHORT HILLS: Well, I got the year right again. The cold snap is over for the moment, as it’s up in the twenties, and a few above-freezing temps are predicted for later in the week. Why do we talk about a heat wave and a cold spell or snap, but not a cold wave or heat snap? No wonder English is so hard to learn.

We took the dogs for a walk around the block today. We wore heavy coats, hats and gloves. The dogs wore fur. We walk them around the snowy yard after the outing to clean their pads of the salt from the roads.

If it gets up to the forties later in the week in VT, that will be more than 60° warmer than it was when we were there in December. Another 60° warmer and it would be 100°, but VT has probably never been that hot.

It must be obvious that I don’t have a lot to do.


White-throated sparrow has a 'white throat' and yellow markings in front of the eyes.

Here's one hiding in a barberry bush.


There were about three dozen birds at the feeders when something, perhaps a raptor, scared them all, and they disappeared in an instant. I think six are hiding in this bush, another barberry.

Taking a nap in soft fluffy stuff.

A big, furry bird.

Cold Continuum.

1-3-18 SHORT HILLS: The deep cold continues in most of the east and other parts of the country. It’s about two weeks now with no warming in sight. A winter ‘hurricane’ is moving up the east coast now and will be a blizzard here and VT in the nest few days. If there are high winds, power outages will happen. The snow here is down to scattered patches. The extended forecast for next week shows moderating temps.

Twenty-five years ago ticks were very rare in VT, but are now present. I wonder it this cold spell will reduce the tick population for next summer. If the ticks over-winter on their hosts maybe the cold won’t matter.

We have lots of slate-colored juncos at the feeders both in NJ and VT. While they are always winter visitors, there seem to be more than usual this year. Could this be an irruption?


Sycamore trees have a distinctive look in winter with bone-white bark on the upper branches, a camo look lower down and greenish-brown at the base.

There seem to be an unusually high number of slate-colored juncos this winter both here and in VT. Is this an irruption?

Female junco, slate-colored, but the white collar is unusual.

There's very little snow here, as you can see.