January 13th.  Fresh ice at the edges of Raymond Brook Marsh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January 15th.  Mid-day.  Not unusual to see a hawk perched in the tallest tree far across the marsh.

 

But today was different.  A Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus); only the third one I've seen in over 12 years walking through Raymond Brook Marsh.

 

 

 

Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis).

 

Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis).

 

 

 

 

 

Isabella TIger-moth caterpillar or Woolley Bear (Pyrrharctia isabella) our for a stroll at 40 degrees.

 

January 16th.  The Eagle has landed (again).

 

Pictures slightly better than yesterday, but asking a lot of a little camera and an eagle roughly a quarter mile away.

 

Best to view FULLSCREEN.

 

January 17th.  Another foggy dawn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January 19th.  A sunny mid-day after morning clouds and flurries.  No sign of the eagle; I fear it has moved on.

 

January 25th. Seventeen degrees; a slight improvement over recent single digit mornings.

 

The sun made a brief appearance despite high and low clouds.

 

 

 

 

 

Look carefully.  See the halo?  This is one form of "parahelia".  Like sun dogs and sun pillars, it's caused by light passing through ice crystals in the atmosphere.

 

February 1st.

 

People have been out walking on the ice.

 

In open areas, much of the ice is gone from the trail.  Less so in the wooded areas.

 

Male Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis).  A confrontation between them just after I took this photo.

 

The invasive Giant Reed Grass (Phragmites australis).

 

 

 

February 2nd.  Groundhog Day.  Very foggy east of Route 207 in Hebron.

 

Beaver lodge in very good shape.

 

Raymond Brook Marsh very foggy too.

 

February 4th.  The day after 6" of snow (and the day before 6-10" more is predicted).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

February 6th.  Bright sun and shadows...

 

...from the old beaver lodge.

 

A deer walked across the marsh sometime after yesterday's 8" of new snow.

 

Despite all that new snow, the pine branches were nearly bare.