Hello you!

This time the forecast was accurate and we now have roughly a foot (30 cm) of fresh snow.  It started overnight and was still snowing this morning so I scurried out and got my hide set up near the feeding "table" and tucked myself inside.  The birds are a lot less cautious when it's snowing, mostly concerned about food.  And this allowed me to position the hide only about 7 feet away.  I shot this using bird eye detection on the Nikon z8 with my 300 mm PF lens.  Shutter speed fairly low because the light was very dim.  The camera's AF struggled a bit with separating the bird's eye from the snow flakes which meant using some of the other AF functions to get the focus locked - a very fun morning if I am being honest!  

And this bird adds to my 2024 yard list, an American Tree Sparrow.  Usually the only time I see this small, dainty sparrows is when it snows.  Another view in Extra.

After enjoying time in the hide, I got busy shoveling pathways through the snow on the deck and patio.  Hard work and now my back is complaining a bit.  Hubs is going to snow-blow the driveway soon and I will shovel the front porch - teamwork.  

Amazingly, there was a chipmunk in the garden this morning, much to Jax's delight.  He spent a ridiculous amount of time nosing around in the snow and sniffing everything (Jax, not the chippie).  It's not especially cold today, so he didn't mind being out and up to his belly in snow.  Now he is warming the same belly in front of the fire.

Last night's movie was "Bank of Dave" which was loosely based on a true story.  We enjoyed it although I would not say it was a great movie - but an easy watch and a nice story.

xo
Debbi