Old Man Winter has been giving us all he’s got this year. He started in Autumn and it looks like it’s doing his best to drag things out into Spring. Here in the Ozarks, we typically get a light snow before Christmas and we have a cold and sometimes snowy January. This year we’ve been pounded by storm after storm. I’m tired of shoveling and I miss the sunshine. It’s hard on us humans, but I have to tell you that the birds at the Stonehouse are over it. Yesterday when forecasted “light afternoon flurries” turned into 7 inches of wet sticky snow, I did what I always do. I took out my camera. My friends at the feeders have lost their sweet Christmassy look – gone are the noble poses with perfectly coiffed tufts and wings. Haggard cards and finches continue to feed, but clearly they are over this whole “polar vortex” thing. Don’t worry, my little feathered friends, Spring is on the way – it’s supposed to arrive on Thursday, but don’t count your chicks before they’re hatched.
Click through to see what the diners at the Stonehouse Buffet have to say about Winter 2014:
Shutterbug Notes:
I have a weather sealed camera, but my bird lens is not sealed – I use a sandwich bag to give it a bit of protection, while still allowing me to focus in the weather. Shooting birds in falling snow is tricky, your AF will try to lock onto snowflakes so try focussing first on something at the same distance as your subject – I find that nearby branches work well – this makes it easier to fine tune your focus on your subject. When shooting birds I always focus on their eyes and I use the smallest AF target box that by camera has. I think the eyes help to capture their personalities. A motion blur on a wing can add to a shot, but a face out of focus is not a keeper for me.
the eff stop 
Photos are amazing, nice colors combination!
Thanks so much!
Poor birds. I have no idea how they do it. Your shots are wonderful. I hope spring finds its way to you soon.
Thanks Robin – it looks like it Spring might finally have arrived!
Love these–and I’m with the birds, past ready for Spring!
Me too – and it looks like I’m getting my wish – spring thunderstorms and tornado watches.
Yikes! You need a break–we’ve actually got one today. 🙂
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Really nice!
Thank you!
Wonderful shots, Lorri. I’m with you on the winter….so done with it! And you guys got more snow than we did! I must say I was a bit surprised at our Sunday flakes. Haha….reading that back… sounds funny….so I’ll leave it. 🙂
I like it – Sunday Flakes. I think they were all at the supermarket 30 minutes before the snow started falling 🙂
People do crazy, don’t they?! 🙂
These are just fantastic and I cracked up at the captions! !
Thanks – the poor creatures were all soaked clear through. Their expressions made me do it 🙂
Come on spring!
Amen sista!
I was going to say that winter is or the birds, but apparently it’s not! 😉
Diana xo
and by or I mean for…
Well, everyone has their limit…
True dat! Why do I live in Canada again?
LOL – this time of year I wonder why we don’t all live in Hawaii.
Those poor little birds….but maybe they are acclimatised to the snow. I love your red cardinals.
So, still no sign of Spring for you Lorri.
Perhaps next summer, you could build some mini portable shelter sheds for the birds that overwinter with you (assuming you DO get a summer).
Our own weather never seems to match the weather bureau’s forecast either.
Well – I had a bird try to move in with me last month. Heat, food, water -everything a bird needs except the sky. It looks like that may have been out last snow of the season – whew!!
WOW Beautiful! I love that red bird, what is it?
That’s a Northern Cardinal – they live all over the eastern part of North America. The brown ones are the female cardinals.
Nice! I shall look out for them if I’m ever I’m in the area 😉
Poor things look how I feel, feathers ruffled and wet and so hoping for warm weather. Beautiful shots as always Lorri, I feel for the little critters. And us! 🙂 I loved the captions. Too funny.
Thanks Jackie. I was so glad to see them hovering around the feeders, but they just looked so defeated. They often look like this when they are raising young later in the season.
I love the contrast of the bird’s colours against the white snow… especially the red ones.
Thanks – those cardinals are much beloved here. People use images of them in snow at Christmas. The brown ones are their mates.
You and the birds have had a tough winter, whereas we have just had it wet. And grey. Seeing the sun this week made me feel sooo happy. Hope you get some soon. Love your photos and the captions made me chuckle – frozen dinners indeed 😀
Jude xx
We are supposed to warm up by the weekend. We had so much rain this weekend and then we got that wet snow. I’m hoping it was the last of the season. I’m sure the birds are hoping for that too 🙂
It feels like you shot these photos in the world of snow white!
Hah – that or a snow globe 🙂
My lord, Lorri – I am soooo over this weather! Thank goodness it is sunny today and the forecast is warmer for the week – the photos are beautiful as ever and the captions are priceless – loved the ‘I can’t feel my feet’- Hilarious! K
I am soooooo ready for spring. I went kayaking Friday and had to store the boats again yesterday. This morning I could barely get out of the driveway, but it should all be gone by the time I get home.
I like the way the falling snow stands out against the red feathers. Finding focus in the snow is a challenge you conquered. By your comments it sounds like we get a lot more sun with our winter which really change things.
I think you are right about that – I really only had one sunny day to shoot over the course of this winter – back in December. This snow came after 4 inches of rain, so it had been overcast for sometime. I love those motion shots in the snow, but they were too noisy in this light. I love that clean light you see on a sunny snowy day – we had lots of those in the Pacific Northwest.