Sunday 31 January 2016

January 2016 weather

What a crazy month. The temperatures were much warmer than they should be in January. The snow began melting in the Jan. 31st rains. The deer still have their antlers, although they are looking the worse for wear. The last few days we've had much snow melt, which makes it feel more like March than January. I fear for the critters and the trees, and people who depend up a normal climate, like our sap producers. Jan. 2014, we had 30 cm of snow and it was -16 C. 


Jan. 31

Jan. 28

Jan. 27
     

Jan. 26

There's a bit of a change! Ice pellets on the ground. It's a slippy walk to put out the bird feeder!

Jan. 24

They've reported 30 US deaths, as of Jan. 54th. There was 90 cm in some spots on the east coast of the US.  Major Cities Grind to a Halt and Face Days of Digging Out Snow

By JAMES BARRON and RICK ROJAS

In New York, the National Weather Service said 26.8 inches of snow had fallen on Central Park by midnight, making this the city's second-biggest snowstorm since 1869.

The poor reporters!

Time for snow painting!


You can see from the satellite (below) the cloud were in a system that just kept circling and picking up ocean water!

Jan. 23


Jan. 22

An incoming storm through the US. For folks unprepared for it, the snow and winds can really shut a city down! They warned people, and they were told to stay home.
Sadly, there have been deaths in the US from this storm.  The NY Times reports:
By Friday night, [10 deaths] — five in North Carolina, one in Virginia, one in Kentucky and two in Tennessee — had been attributed to bad road conditions and ice. 
Jan. 20
It's coming!

Jan. 22

Jan. 21
Jan. 23

Jan. 19


Jan. 16

I was talking to a Twitter  buddy, she had 17 cm of snow to our 3 or 4 cm. Going to the radar, I found out why! The storm followed highway #7, more or less, across Peterborough.


Jan. 15

Wow! We had -5.



Jan. 14


Jan. 12

Jan. 11

We had 6+ yesterday, and this morning it is -10 C.! Lake Effect Snow prevails. Lots of wind last night, too.





Jan 10

Pretty tough day for many. There were 2000+ without power. around the Great lakes. We had 25mm of RAIN!
We could see it coming!

Jan. 9

Freezing rain warnings turned to plain rain.

Jan. 7


Jan. 5



Jan. 3 forecast to -18 tonight!



Jan. 1st N.A. satellite & lake effect snow 3 cm


All about owls!

Horned owl
on nest in April, 2012
I did a Book Review: Owls of the U.S. and Canada –previously. There is so much to learn! It wasn't a good resource book, though.

I have a few owl photos of my own, simply a matter of chance and happenstance, for the most part, other than the Snowy owls. (There are some known spots)

I haven't managed to find any owls in 2016, but the year is young. I'm not getting any younger, though! I have avoided the ones, in south Ottawa, where everyone goes. It's just not right, tramping on the fields!
We had a Great horned owl build a nest across the highway in a previous year. I spotted a Barred owl by the frogpond, when on a walk with Daisy, and we had a Saw-whet owl on our front porch (the Sharp-shinned hawk killed it), and a Barred owl was killed by a car. I brought it home, to take photos. [A poor wee feathered body by the side of the road]

Barred owl
Serendipity... looking for Mike Muskrat
I found a barred owl!

Saw-whet
I spotted this information on the Facebook owl group. I asked Jeff if I might use his photo, as I have a hard time remembering the sex of Snowy owls. It is easy to figure it out, if you can remember it! I said I would give a donation to The Owl Foundation, where he volunteers in exchange for using his photo. He kindly said I need not make a donation, but I believe in being fair.



Now, hubby and I have driven miles and miles this year looking for Snowy owls, but in vain. Hopefully, we will see one. There are a couple of places where you are assured to spot them, but that would be easy! The horrible unethical photographers are baiting the owls [like this story], which results in them becoming inured to humans, as well as posing other problems, and that is bad.
Jeff Jones‎, who volunteers at The Owl Foundation...
Winter...
Snowy owls
The difference in size between a male and female snowy owl is quite large. In this photo we have both a male and female hatch year snowy owl. Notice how much smaller the male (left) is than the female (right) Also notice the bars in the plumage. Both male and female snowy owls are born with bars, with the males bars slowly diminishing with each molt until he is all white, or very close to it. The males chest is much more white as well as his cap, which is a good indication to the probable sex of the owl if you are viewing it in the field. You can also notice how dense the female's bars are in comparison to the males. 
 The female was actually put in this long flight training cage to help the males recovery speed up. With her in there as well we are hoping he will want to try flying to build up some muscle quicker to show off so to speak. With luck I should be driving the male up to Sault St. Marie for release in a couple weeks.