Kelly's Brook after 27 cm of snow!

A somewhat unexpected snow fall over night changed the scene around St. John's from late fall to full on winter. The snow was wet sticking heavily to the trees and then froze on when the temps dipped to -3C. The 70 km/hr NE winds later in the day didn't knock the snow off the limbs.

 

 

Thinking about the Kelly's Brook warblers I brought out a block of suet which I hoped the Cape May at least would take advantage of. The other warblers don't have any previous record of eating suet. The brook was a winter wonderland of snow laden branches. One of the willows collapsed across the brook on to the sand bar. Birds were very quiet. It was hard to see the chickadees that were calling faintly within the spruces. The warblers were even more difficult to see. I managed a glimpse of the bright Nashville feeding in the wet grass by the water. Saw the Black-and-white trying to get at the bare underside of the branches and tree trunks. Unlike the other warblers it wasn't into picking insects off the vegetation by the water. It probably doesn't know how. The Cape May was the easiest of the warblers to see. It was picking by the water and in the newly fallen willow looking for bare branches to find food. Pathetic looking at time. If this snow would melt off the branches they will be OK for a while as there are no deep freezes forecasted this week.

Whoa! This isn't what I expected when I signed up for the Newfoundland trip.

I didn't sign up for these frozen dinners either.

Merry f&*()(&^g Christmas to you too.

Even the teal were sleeping off this winter day...