Sunday, December 22, 2013

The Ice Man Cometh

Ice Storm
Overnight 21-22 December 2013

    The ice storm predicted by the meteorologists to arrive overnight did so with the full ferocity anticipated. In fact, in the immediate area of our home we escaped relatively unscathed; other areas were hit far worse. The City of Toronto, for example, now has around 250,000 people without power, some of whom may not be restored before Christmas. There is devastation all around us so we consider ourselves very fortunate to be warm at home with minor inconvenience at worst.
    Pictures below of our bird feeders illustrate very well the extent of the ice build up.




      Despite the severe impact of the storm, the branches, coated in their crystal glitter look quite beautiful, even with a broken branch in the second picture below.





    We were concerned for the welfare of the birds who had to endure such conditions in darkness, especially the small passerines, so we were very happy indeed to see them patronizing our feeders soon after first light. American Goldfinches Carduelis tristis, especially seemed undeterred by the ice and were constant visitors to feed on high energy shelled sunflower seeds.




    All in all, as is so true of many things in life, it could have been worse. 
David M. Gascoigne,
David M. Gascoigne,

I'm a life long birder. My interests are birds, nature, reading, books, outdoors, travel, food and wine.

10 comments:

  1. Ich habe von dem Eissturm gelesen. Schön sieht es ja aus, auch wenn sich das Vögelchen ganz schön wundert. Ich hoffe, Sie müssen nicht Auto fahren.

    Frohe Feiertage wünscht Ihnen
    die Waldameise

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  2. Charming photos of this bird :) And these frozen drops on the branches ... In my 40 st F. during the day and it should be 25 st F.
    Global warming

    Greetings from Poland
    author. Damian :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm glad you were spared the worst of the storm, but I do feel for the people without electricity in those sort of temperatures at this special time of the year. The Goldfinch really doesn't look too troubled though!

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  4. The storm is devastating but the pics are stunning & fascinating. Merry Christmas !

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  5. Very nice set. With no ice or even snow but a storm with winds of 120 km / h.
    Vive le Canada !
    Céline & Philippe

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  6. Nice. The ice made such wonderful patterns. Thank you for sharing them.

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  7. Beautiful pictures of the Goldfinch.
    No snow and no frost here, but storms and rain.
    I wish you and all your loved ones a Merry Christmas, a happy and healthy 2014.

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  8. Thanks for your comment. Still Learning about photohgraphing. Great Pictures you have which inspires. Always nice to learn about more bloggers photos.
    Wish you a great Christmas"!
    Majsan//

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  9. There really is a lot of ice and cold were with you David, and very sad and sad that so many people are stuck with the cold without power.

    Nevertheless, I wish you and all your loved ones a few very merry Christmas and a beautiful, healthy and photogenic 2014.

    Greetings, Helma

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  10. Fabulous photos David, but I can imagine just how devastating such ice storms can be with all that weight of ice.

    Hoping you both manage to keep warm and safe this Christmas, and have a wonderful one.

    Thank you for your inspiration, friendship, and support in 2013, and all the best to you for 2014.

    Richard

    ReplyDelete

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