We’ve had a variety of weather conditions over the last few days, giving some interesting sights of our snow covering.
Almost all of the milkweed pods have now been stripped of their downy seeds.
Alternate freezing and thawing has opened the little roadside ditches giving rise to bubbles with interesting reflections …
Is this a male or a female Pileated Woodpecker?
Notice the red moustache and the red forehead ….
That makes the above a Male Pileated Woodpecker. The slightly smaller bird below, with a black mustache and a dark forehead, is a Female Pileated Woodpecker.
The two of them were searching for protein in the bark of elm tree trunks that had died about 5 years ago. (The female spooked to a nearby telephone pole.) I will be trying to keep track of them as they may nest in one of the nearby Aspen trees.
Now some more photos of our snow covering …
The snow is sliding off of Alex’s roof. Although it is a cloudy day, there is enough skylight to cast shadows of a nearby tree on the snow slab.
The engineer in me always marvels at the tensile strength of snow ….
Male Staghorn Sumac at Alex’s …
Further along Riverside Drive ….
Tamarack at the Outram compound …
Winterberry ( AKA Black Alder Winterberry, Brook Alder, Canada holly, Coralberry, Deciduous Holly, Deciduous Winterberry, False alder, Fever bush, Inkberry, Michigan Holly, Possumhaw, Swamp Holly, Virginian Winterberry, or Winterberry Holly.) with no berries. I cannot find any plants with berries this winter, the first winter I’ve experienced this. I don’t know why as we had a very good fruit and berry crop this year.
Wind blowing snow under the Juniper …
Oft photographed White Pine on Hwy 529 …
Tamaracks have caught some wet snow …
Hwy 69 about 3 km south of Pte Au Baril. This is a late winter hangout for White Tails.
I am hoping for a clear night over the next few days so that I can try to catch some snow sparkles in the moonlight. If you are interested in this sort of thing check this out: Technical: Snow sparkles under a full moon.
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