Down by the River – in the Snow

Fine snow was falling heavily as I walked along the river. In open water at the upstream end of some small islands a large group of common mergansers swam, often with their heads underwater, and repeatedly dove in search of fish –

As usual this time of year, the flock was made up almost entirely of male mergansers.

Speaking of mergansers, a pair of hooded mergansers swam along the edge of the river’s ice –

As can be seen in the photos of the hooded mergansers, the camera had trouble focusing on the birds and would often focus on the falling snowflakes – technology is far from perfect.

After walking further along the shore a raft of waterfowl far out in the river came into view. Again the birds were obscured by the falling snow, but it was fairly obvious they were common goldeneyes, mostly females –

Out of curiosity, when I was downloading the day’s images to the computer I asked a commonly used AI software to identify the birds. The answer was “ring-necked ducks” – obviously incorrect – technology is far from perfect.

Further along the river the peregrine falcons’ favorite tree came into view. And there they were, both birds of the pair of peregrines that nest beneath the nearby bridge. Unfortunately, they were on opposite sides of the tree and I couldn’t get both birds in one photo.

The female’s crop was bulging impressively, she’d obviously recently had a large meal, probably one of the rock pigeons from the bridge or its environs –

The smaller male that was perched nearby also had a bulging crop –

The snow, as fine as it was, was beginning to build up – time to head home.

Fall & Early Winter in the Hollow

The hollow is a small valley bisected by an equally small stream. Once upon a time (the 1930s) the hollow was almost treeless and used as pasture, but that ended by the 1960s when friends purchased this old hill farm. During the ensuing years the hollow was re-occupied by trees and it’s now entirely wooded.

One of my camera traps has been in the hollow for a number of years and has gotten a host of interesting videos that have been posted on In Forest and Field. Here are the video clips from the fall and early winter of 2025.

At seven minutes into the video you’ll see a buck with a typical 4-point antler on the left side and a smaller distorted antler on the right side. Odd antler configurations are frequently caused by an injury to the growing antler in early summer or an injury to the underlying bone.

Toward the end of the video there are a number of clips of bucks following or searching for receptive does with the intent of siring next spring’s fawns.

The buck with the odd antlers was shot by a hunter during deer season, but all of the others apparently survived.

Frosting on the Windowpane II

                            There's frosting on the windowpane …

                                                 John Denver: Goodbye Again

It’s winter, not the winter of old when we had frequent days below 0°F and we had a day or two each winter when the temperature was below -10° here at the house. I miss those low temperatures and the beauty those clear cold days brought. As the climate changes there are fewer and fewer cold days.

At 2°F this was one of the coldest mornings of the winter and it brought some of winter’s beauty. On the inside of the storm window of one of our spare rooms frost had formed ferns, feathers and trees –

As the sun rises and the day warms the sculptures formed by the frost melt; with luck the cold temperature will return with the night and new frost will form on the windowpane.

I feel sorry for those of you who live in places where there is never frosting on the windowpane. By the same token as the worldwide climate continues to warm those of us who live in areas where we have proper winters can expect fewer mornings when frost can form on our windowpanes.

Quilt Blocks

As we drive around northcentral Pennsylvania it’s not unusual to see decorations on barns. Sometimes one side of a barn has been painted to advertise chewing tobacco, sometimes a sign promoting a particular brand of tractors, gasoline or chainsaws has been nailed to the siding. Those are ads, intended to encourage the viewer to purchase a product.

Then there are the quilt blocks painted on plywood and nailed to barns or outbuildings. The quilt blocks are purely aesthetic, not intended to sell anything to anyone.

Here’s a selection of the quilt blocks we’ve seen on barns over the last few years –

Some of these quilt blocks have been up for years, exposed to sun and rain they’re fading. Others are fairly new, still bright for now. Will anyone repaint the fading quilt blocks? As the old barns deteriorate and gradually disappear many quilt blocks will go too, but for now they add a pleasant bit of color to the rural landscape.