The Season of Short Days.

12-28-21 SHORT HILLS: We are a week past the Solstice and are at the nadir of the sun-cycle. Think of it as a sine wave. We are at the negative end of the excursion, where the curve is flat, meaning that there’s little change in the amount of daylight. After January 21, the curve begins to climb upwards and the days slowly get longer. 

The weather has been mild. We have had dustings of snow that disappear in a matter of hours, and lots of showers without much accumulation.

There is more bird activity at the feeders. A flock of robins, perhaps a hundred, was here for several hours eating the holly berries that I showed a few weeks ago. They pretty much stripped the tree of berries and, apparently, moved on. 

There are finches, woodpeckers, doves, chickadees, juncos, bluejays, sparrows and cardinals at the feeders. The squirrel has a playmate.

New blooms: a few forsythia flowers and a couple vinca minor flowers.

House finch waiting for a turn at the feeders.

A lady cardinal at one of the feeders. That feeder has been patched up and re-patched up.

Mourning doves sat on that tree and watched the robins on the holly tree. They will sit in one place for extended periods of time, unlike some of the other birds that don't sit still for more than a few seconds.

Here's the video of the robins on the holly tree.

The holly tree before the robins.

The holly after the robins, with a dusting of snow, but no berries.

A nice sunset at 4:30.