March 1, 2006
Il neige!
March 1st: last year in Davis, the almond trees were in blossom weeks ago, the first Swainson's Hawks had arrived and frost was a distant memory. Not so in Orsay! This is the view that greeted me when I got out of bed this morning:
On my walk into work I slipped and slid almost as much as the figure skaters in the last winter Olympics - everything looked great with a dusting of snow though.
I spent a little time around the bird feeders on campus, and managed some photos of Coal and Blue Tits (mésanges noires et bleues).
A mixed finch flock was feeding in the understory, including this Siskin (Tarin des aulnes)
... and Brambling (Pinson du Nord).
This lunchtime I returned to the Etang de Saclay with Romain - today we saw 8 White-fronts (Oies rieuses) and 2 redhead Smews (Harles Piettes), but no sign of any other goose species.
Looking forward to summer!
Posted by rjhall at March 1, 2006 2:47 PMActually Yesterday we experienced some weird weather pattern that coated the streets of Elk grove with pea-sized hail. Sunday 2/19 the hills surrounding Lake Berryessa were covered beautifully with snow. I especially like that Blue Tit(mesanges bleu). Today I went to Berkeley to take photos for Doug and stopped along bayshore at Albany. Nothing remarkable just practiced digi and biniscoping. I said it was addicting!
Ciao,
Sami