The North Wind Doth Blow, February 17, 2014

Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)  Photo by Tom Persing

    The North Wind Doth Blow

The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will poor robin do then,
Poor thing?

He'll sit in a barn,
And keep himself warm,
And hide his head under his wing,
Poor thing.

            Anonymous

Juncos are snowy weather birds.  In this part of Ohio we see them only in winter.  They come to our ground feeder.

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)  Photo by Tom Persing

Northern Cardinals are here all year.  This is a male.  The females are grayish or brownish, tinged with red  on their crest, breast, wings, and tails.  Tom took this from our dining room window.  The bird was on the far side of our back yard.  Once again, his new camera with the image stabilization did the trick.

Northern Cardinal, Photo by Tom Persing

These photos were taken late in the afternoon.  The temperature was 29 degrees, Fahrenheit (-1.7 Celsius).  A few minutes earlier rain was pouring down.  It left trees and birdfeeders and eaves of houses trimmed with icicles.