Springtime in Antarctica

January 21, 2019
When I started out on my walk today, it was only 4 chilly degrees —which was actually 8 degrees warmer than it had been when I woke up a few hours earlier!! It felt like Antarctica! But, I saw it as a challenge– could I dress warmly enough, and, if I could, how long could I stay out? Surprisingly, (or maybe not so surprisingly given all the layers I had on) I never got cold—even after four hours!

In spite of the frigid weather, though, the birds must have thought it was spring. For one thing, there were robins everywhere! I thought robins were spring birds! Apparently, they do not know this. They were singing and eating berries and pretending that we weren’t in the middle of our worst winter weather of the season. Maybe nobody told them. Maybe they don’t have a weather app.  Whatever the reason, they hadn’t gotten the memo– and they were everywhere!

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In addition to the robins, I saw bluebirds, goldfinches, nuthatches, titmice, downy woodpeckers, cardinals, sparrows, house finches,  mallards, a mute swan and my biggest surprise, a ruby crowned kinglet! Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get good pictures of all these lovely birds, mostly because I found it difficult to get the settings right to adjust for the bright sun and the bright snow– or the birds weren’t interested in sitting in an appropriate spot for a good picture!

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Even though the temperature was in the single digits today, it was an incredibly beautiful day for a leisurely walk through the woods. The sky was blue, the sun was out and, mercifully, there was no wind. Maybe that’s why I was able to stay out so long.