Snow Buntings Fly-By

Last week we had about five inches of new snow.  It stopped snowing Thursday, but all that grain that had been spread at Creamer's Field was covered, as you can see in this photo I took on Friday.

The geese and swans and ducks have delayed their flight north, but the Snow Buntings have still been active.  On Thursday I saw a large flock, somewhere between 100-150.  Click HERE to see a few close-ups from my last post.

At one point when they took flight they did a fly-by in front of the barns.

These little guys swirl around very quickly, and the result left the barns a bit out of focus.  I added some definition using filters in PSE.

Today is up around the freezing mark and the forecast is for warming this week.  Hopefully we'll get some melting and our avian visitors will decide to fly north!

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Check out more old barns at Tricia's Barn Charm!

Snow Buntings at Creamer's Field

Still no more Canada Geese have shown up at Creamer's Field.  We've had about 4-5 inches of snow over the last several days, and today might have reached 15 degrees F.  Wisely the geese are waiting it out further south.  In the meantime, the flock of Snow Buntings seems to have increased, some 100+.  This afternoon I was able to get some closer shots.

They hung around on the ground out in the field, and would then swirl around in unison for a bit before landing again.  One time they took off, and as I was focusing through the camera they disappeared.  It took me a minute to realize they had landed in the trees right next to me, settled at the very tops in clustered groups.

Looking up at them they looked like tufts of cotton.  (Look at the buds on those trees!) 

And then suddenly they all took wing and landed back in the field.

I couldn't tell if I had managed to get any decent shots through all the branches or in the distance in the field.  This is one of those times when I was wishing for a bigger lens.  Nonetheless, these are much better than the last time, and perhaps I'll get another chance at them before they head north.....