Loading up for a stormy night.

Spot the snowflake in large.

It was a touch warmer today with a high of 20(F) degrees. Though it felt colder than earlier this week due to the crazy wind that hit the area. I didn't see a single bird this morning and I had to run around all afternoon, so I packed my camera and planned on grabbing a blip on the road. At first it was a possibility, but as the afternoon moved on the snow started to fall... Then the snow amped up to big blizzard levels and my desire to get out with the camera strongly diminished. I arrived back home around 5:00pm and the daylight, too, was diminishing. What to blip?? Out of time and options (and desire to set up an indoor blip), I spotted one little downy stocking up on calories before a long stormy night.

Not once have I been able to get close to a downy... typically, it's either a through-the-window or an at-a-distance shot for me to capture this bird. But she wasn't fazed by me, my camera or the dogs. So I tossed a towel over my camera and inched closer to the downy through the blustery snow. I think I could have stood right next to her if I could have maneuvered further through the thigh deep snow. She was clearly less worried about me than she was about the long cold night. I can't imagine having to spent the night outside in weather like this...