Thursday, December 28, 2017

Wonders On Cold Winter Days

Hello. This is The Daily Bone and I'm your diligent doggie reporter Chester L. W. Spaniel.


Now that Christmas is over, we can think about other things.

TUESDAY
It was sunny, windy, and very cold. The wind blew the snow around like sparkly
glitter in the bright sunshine.


I patrolled the yard several times, despite the cold. But I'm glad to report, there were no squirrels around that day!


A winter sunset:


WEDNESDAY
It was still very cold, but not as windy. We were standing by the window around 3pm, watching Sparrows Inc. flitting around. Do you see them all lined up on the back of the wooden glider? From there, they would zoom to the window birdie feeder and back.


Here they come!


There they go!


Suddenly ghostwriter saw a big shape swoop past the window. She thought it was just a mourning dove. But looking carefully, she spotted a big hawk sitting at the side of the Sparrows Inc. Country Club in the Sticks! 


Do you see him? He's sitting on the sticks to the left of the wooden glider.


We wish the pictures came out better. But that hawk was very well camouflaged. He sat there for a long time just preening his feathers. Then he hopped right into the sticks to visit the sparrows! We thought for sure he must be feasting on little birdies! But he flew out without anything in his talons. Ghostwriter thinks it was a either a sharp-shinned hawk, or a young cooper's hawk.


Of course, after the hawk was gone, I ran out to see if the sparrows were OK.


A few were still in there! They must have sat very still while that hawk was visiting!

You guys all right in there?

Hey Mr. Hawk! If you come back tomorrow, I'll introduce you to some big fat squirrels!


That was our big excitement for that day.


THURSDAY
This morning Ryan's dad posted a picture of the sunrise. Do you see the partial rainbows on each side? Those are called sundogs. They form when there are ice crystals in the air.


There were narrow bands of squalls all day. Dad and ghostwriter were driving right into one here:


While they were out running errands, they saw this amazing sight. A whole flock of Canada geese was resting on a strip of land between a bank parking lot and a busy road! The ladies at the bank said the geese have been there all day.


Can you believe it?


The moon came up early. There will be a full moon on the first day of the year 2018. 


Here are articles for science geeks like us who might want some more information on the subjects discussed in this post:

SUNDOGS

11 comments:

  1. Dose sundogs really are interesting.

    We see lotsa hawks here - must be all da bunnehs and skwerrils.

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  2. Gosh I would soooooooooooo love to visit you at your place Chester - you have so many amazing animal-friends to watch, and all that wonderful looking SNOW!!
    It's very hot here at the moment and my lovely black fur coat isn't really working for me :(
    Your cool snowy pictures are just what I need!
    Lots of licks, your good friend Morrie!

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  3. I agree, Chester - a squirrel would be a MUCH better meal than a little birdie for Mr Hawk. The sundogs are so cool!

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  4. You've been busy keeping track of all those birdies. It's been too cold around here to spend much time outside. Stay warm Chester.

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  5. Chester...OMCs you my friend must have PhD in Wondering. Now you have us on a mission too to find out stuffs. OMCs we know the hawks have to eat too but dang we wish they would not hunt in our yards. WE often hear them with their pitiful squawk in our trees when the birds are at our feeders. The feeders have domes over them to kinda protect the birds as they perch but those who eat from the ground are in a world of hurt.
    Love the sun photos
    Hugs madi your bfff

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  6. We got quite a bit of snow over Christmas but now it is over 40 degrees and melting! Still a lot though. Dad was not happy cause some birdies pooped all over his pick up truck
    hugs
    Hazel & Mabel

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  7. We have never seen sun dogs before because it doesn't get that cold here. They are gorgeous! I'm glad the hawk was nice to the sparrows. They are so cute.

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  8. Those are some awesome photos from Ryan's Dad - we have never seen rainbows like those!!! We don't see many birds around here. We think they are all hiding from the bitter cold we are having. We do love it though. We still have a bit of snow on the ground but the brown grass is visible too. We would like the cold even more if we could get a good snow cover. Mom says she has had enough snow for the winter and just wants it to warm up soon.

    Woos - Lightning, Misty, and Timber

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  9. Try not to antagonize the hawk, C. Those things can be mean. And hungry.

    Love and licks,
    Cupcake

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  10. I think the squirrels might have taken a little trip all the way to... Norway! Because we saw some yesterday, playing in the snow and trying to find food.

    Mara from Norway

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  11. Yikes, that is a big hawk. Hungry and hunting. Be careful,Chester.We wonder if those sundogs know how to bark?

    The full moon was obscured by clouds here on Jan one...so we missed seeing it. And petcretary kind of forgot about it, cause she was busy at her work:)

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