After the Storm

On February 9-10th, a snow storm left about 5 inches and carved and blasted with its strong winds interesting snow patterns.

A fox left a trail looking as determined and with purpose as he always looks when I catch a glance of him as he passes through. Clearly, with the circling around several times, a mouse or vole was heard but not found.

The boreal pond has also had water in it all winter and here are some freeze patterns to enjoy.

In the woods, I disturb a Red tailed Hawk, who soars overhead, 

leaving his post near his yearly nesting site. 

The hawk is in the upper left corner and his nest is in the lower right corner.

The snow highlights the toppled trees brought down by the roaring winds of Hurricane Sandy.

We have had few winter snows this year, one at the end of January, this one in early February and now one today, March 8th, all with minimal impact or snowfall totals in Bucks County. We have missed all the greater impacts of these Northeaster storms that have hit New England and the Mid-Atlantic states hard with storm surges and sometimes record breaking snowfalls.

Red-tailed Hawk Action

We have had a very active Red-tailed Hawk pair 

for several years and here is a moment captured where it is racing down 

to capture a mouse or vole. 

Liftoff after a tasty and successful meal - 

Winter Feast at the Hawthorne

The yard was amass with various birds this week on a very cold blustery day including robins, starlings, mourning doves, wrens, cardinals and red bellied woodpeckers. The temperatures have been persistently in the 20s and 30s with windy conditions since before Christmas. 

A flock of at least 30 robins were feasting excitedly on the ‘Winter King’ Green Hawthorne (Crataegus viridis L.) tree’s brilliant red berries. There was another flock of starlings searching for errant seeds or morsels in the side yard. They suddenly flew into formation though as a red tailed hawk soared over. 

The berries are too hard in the fall for the birds to eat, but soften, perhaps even ripen after being frozen and then edible for the over-wintering birds and other animals. 

The Green Hawthorn is one of my favorite native trees, as it has beautiful silvery grey bark which defoliates as it grows, revealing an inner orange bark. It has delicate white flowers in the spring and its' dark green foliage turns bronze and gold in the fall. Finally, in the winter it is bedecked with these lovely large red berries, which hang like miniature ornaments until the birds arrive and have their feast.