Blizzard.

1-29-22 SHORT HILLS: We’re almost at the end of January. I decided that the problem with winter is that nothing happens in the gardens. In the summer each week, even each day, is different with new flowers opening and others finishing. 

There are plenty of weather changes in both seasons, but except for more snow or less snow the garden in winter is leafless and flowerless and frozen and unchanging. 

Today we are getting the bomb blizzard. We were on the back edge and got a few inches, and it seems over. The coastal areas got a lot, and I guess Boston and Maine are still getting it, but not Vermont. 

The feeders have been mobbed all day today. 

Maizie and Blanca comfortable in the snow. It's about 15° and windy. I guess we got about 6 inches of snow.

Judy is almost hidden on the left.

Bally also posing.

There are four cardinals waiting for a turn at the feeders when the grackles take off.

Mostly juncos and white-throated sparrows.

Junco blends into the snowy bush.

January Doldrums.

1-18-22 SHORT HILLS: It’s been a dismal January. Not a lot of snow so far, plenty of cold and wind, a little sun and most days warm enough to walk the dogs. It’s the most unpleasant corner of the year, but we are edging up to a month past the Solstice, and the days will be getting longer. 

I read somewhere that the white-throated sparrows were in trouble as a species, but we have had at least a dozen here at our feeders every day, more than most winters. There were a couple of robins in the yard yesterday, near a holly tree that still had a few berries. It seems to me that they should be further south, but I guess they know where they want to be.

The dogs spend more time outside than we do and enjoy the cold. I need my Carhartt gear to be outside.  

Maizie likes lying in pachysandra.

Bally likes the hillside to bark at the mail carriers.

White-throated sparrow under the feeders in front. You can see the upper and lower beaks, the tongue, and a sunflower seed.

Four sparrows and a junco.

No problem finding him.

Snow Storm.

1-7-22 SHORT HILLS: They predicted 2-4 inches, but we got at least 6 inches. The temp is hovering around the low thirties, and it’s pretty windy. The wind has blown a lot of the snow off the trees and shrubs. The dogs love it, and the birds are on the feeders. 

It’s supposed to stay cold for the next week so there will not be much melting. Winter is here.

The sun rising on the new snow.

At first light, everything is covered and coated with powered sugar.

The evergreens are most at risk of snow damage, but so far they all look OK.

We're having snow for breakfast.

A goldfinch and titmouse at the feeder.

White-throated sparrow and junco under the feeder.

Red-breasted woodpecker and a junco.

Sunset and Grackles

1-4-22 SHORT HILLS: The last storm that left snow and lots of problems in the South, did nothing here except for cloudy skies. After the storm, it got cold here—in the twenties. I had to get the winter coat out of the closet. Today it’s sunny for the first time in a while, but still cold. 

Yesterday I was in the middle of my afternoon nap when Alison called in a sunset alert. It was a real show. The low sun lit up the clouds from underneath, I’ll show a couple pix.

Judy saw a huge flock of grackles on her way back from the market this morning and got a few iPhone pix. The cold wave may have started them moving south. It’s two weeks after the Solstice.

Nice color!

Another view.

A gazillion grackles.

More grackles, in the bushes, on the trees.