Beautiful day today

Forecast said rain, but we're having a gorgeous sunny day so far. Below are random pics from this week.

First thing sighting

Woke up to find two Carolina Wrens and one Ruby-crowned Kinglet all forraging in the garden this morning. Winter may be cold and wet, but it certainly does attract birds.

Wren

This noisy little guy has been around almost every morning this week (not counting the obviously weird and out of the question snow days). A lucky shot and a tripod got this:

Snow day pic dump

Snow!

Woke up to sleet and ice on the ground. Obviously below freezing. As I type this, snow is starting to fall. With the ground this cold, it's gonna stick, too.

Wintery visitors

Lots of unfamiliar birds showing up on our storm day. This morning, I had the chance to see at least twelve and probably many more robins poking around at the back of our yard. Above is a guy I saw bouncing around all day today.

Brrrr!

First freeze of the winter happened last night. There are about 4 inches of water in our rain gauge. More water is expected overnight, and maybe even sleet or snow. Yikes!

Quick update

Despite a lack of pics, birds are still everywhere. Regular visitors include our goldfinches, house finches, and starlings. Other spottings this week include cedar waxwings, Carolina wrens, white-eyed veiro (?), and yellow-rumped warblers.

Our owl box was overtaken by a squirrel this week. I'm sure the owls will take it back when they need it. Until then, we're being taunted by that bushy-tailed rat on a daily basis.