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Winter -- Wow!


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#1 MarkBC

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Posted 01 December 2018 - 06:08 PM

Winter started today (and will continue through Feb 28) -- by the reckoning of meteorologists (and followers like me).

 

And I have evidence of the season this morning -- in my own backyard:

 

Winter_20181201-095027.jpg


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FWC Hawk (2005) on a Ford F250 Supercab, 6.8L V10 gas (2000)


#2 JaSAn

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Posted 01 December 2018 - 07:20 PM

Your late.  We've had snow on the ground since before Halloween.  Ice on lakes up to 7" thick.

 

For us (Northern Minnesota) winter starts when we can walk on water and ends when an old VW bus (drug out onto the ice by a bar for that purpose) falls through the ice in Aril or so.


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#3 Espresso

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Posted 01 December 2018 - 08:15 PM

Winter is definitely here.  It rained last night and it may not make it to 60 today.   


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#4 ski3pin

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Posted 01 December 2018 - 08:18 PM

In honor of the start of meteorological winter........................ran some diesel through Little Red early this morning. Five inches of wet white slop.  


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#5 ski3pin

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Posted 02 December 2018 - 05:25 PM

Two winter mornings thus far and both started with tractor work blowing snow. Good winter thus far. :)


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#6 takesiteasy

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Posted 02 December 2018 - 05:37 PM

Yep, couple of snowy mornings around here too. :)


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#7 Smokecreek1

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Posted 02 December 2018 - 08:12 PM

Snow on the roofs, cold morning walks, ice on the ground and those big puffy, grey and black clouds hanging out in that deep blue sky, ,yep must be winter now!

 

Smoke


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#8 Foy

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Posted 02 December 2018 - 09:09 PM

Cloudy, warm (70 deg F), and humid in Raleigh, NC.  Eerily similar to the Sunday afternoon 30 years ago when a high in the mid-70s preceded development of a supercell tornado, F4 strength, first touching down in northwestern Raleigh and staying on the ground through the suburbs and for 84 miles further northeast to I-95 @ Exit 160 in Halifax County, NC.  Two fatalities in Raleigh and two more in Nash County.  

 

And, typical for early December in central NC, we have snow/sleet in the forecast for next weekend.  

 

Foy


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#9 PaulT

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Posted 02 December 2018 - 09:25 PM

Winter started today (and will continue through Feb 28) -- by the reckoning of meteorologists (and followers like me).
 
And I have evidence of the season this morning -- in my own backyard:
 

That’s some serious bird watching equipment you have. The two clear tube feeders are common. Took me a while to find the tail support woodpecker suet feeders. Do you like them?

That round green item with the cord hanging down looks like a Farm Innovators heated bird waterer. If so, does it work well?

The tall white one appears to be a Davis weatherman data feeder. :)

Paul
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I thought getting old would take longer.

#10 MarkBC

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Posted 02 December 2018 - 09:54 PM


That’s some serious bird watching equipment you have. The two clear tube feeders are common. Took me a while to find the tail support woodpecker suet feeders. Do you like them?

That round green item with the cord hanging down looks like a Farm Innovators heated bird waterer. If so, does it work well?

The tall white one appears to be a Davis weatherman data feeder. :)

Paul

 

 

The tail support on the suet feeders does help woodpeckers (Hairy and Downy woodpeckers and Northern Flickers) take their natural position -- as if vertical on a tree trunk.  Interestingly, similar size/shape birds, such as Stellar's Jays, don't use the tail support.  Either they can't figure out the advantage of it or their feet aren't structured for perching vertically -- they cling to the cage sideways, usually, and with surprising awkwardness.  Little birds such as pygmy nuthatches and mountain chickadees use it, too -- with ease.

 

Woodpeckers-suet_20180120-1.JPG

 

The flat, round green thing with the cord, mounted on the tree (Western Juniper) trunk, is a Farm Innovators bird waterer.  It works great, no ice forms down to single-digits (F), at least...thermostatically controlled to only turn on when temperatures require heat.  But it catches a lot of debris from the messy juniper, so I have to clean that out every other day (or more frequently). 

I used to have it standing (on little legs) on the deck, but deer would drink from it and drain it dry in just a couple visits.  So...after mounting that bird waterer up on the tree trunk, out of the deer's reach, I bought a heated 3-gal bucket from Farm Innovators.  However, it didn't work -- ice formed when the temperature was still in the upper 20s (F). I returned it and tried another slightly different model and got the same lack of liquidity. 

So...I figured that at least a bucket could work for watering deer in the non-freezing months of the year.  Then I came out one morning and found a drowned chipmunk in the water bucket...and I decided that I didn't want to kill chipmunks for the sake of deer.

I should point out that my house is just 200 yards from the Deschutes River, so no creatures in my neighborhood NEED my offered water...it just makes them easier for me to watch.

 

Coopers-Hawk-4427.jpg   Western-Gray-Squirrel-June-1.jpg

Cooper's Hawk needs to tip it's head back to swallow water, but the squirrel, being a mammal, can drink upside down (like frat boys drinking beer).  I've noticed that pygmy nuthatches -- birds who navigate tree trunks and branches without any particular orientation to gravity -- can drink kinda upside down, though they do still tilt their heads up a little to swallow.

 

The white thing on a pole is a weather station, but not a Davis...it's many years old -- don't remember the brand, bought from Ambient Weather.


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FWC Hawk (2005) on a Ford F250 Supercab, 6.8L V10 gas (2000)





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