Category: Winter

Bluebird Stopover

A pair of Eastern Bluebirds brightened up my snowy yard on a gray morning. The specially designed bluebird house installed for them has an opening of exactly 1.5 inches in diameter to ensure that larger birds cannot nest there. Although bluebirds often visit, and occasionally start to build a nest, they never stay through the whole season. After territorial skirmishes sparrows win out. Fingers crossed for this spring!

Holden, MA

Shinshin

“Shinshin” is a Japanese term for the deep silence of a fresh snowfall, or the “sound of no sound” as soft snow absorbs sound. It evokes a sense of calm and stillness, and is a favored time for photographers and nature enthusiasts.

Holden, Massachusetts/ The Morning of January 19, 2026

Laurel is Hardy

The nearly 100 year old Mountain Laurel in my yard is still going strong.

Mountain Laurel is a common hardy evergreen in Central Massachusetts. It can withstand quite cold and snowy winters in the north of the United States.

The evergreen leaves of the Mountain Laurel offer excellent winter protection for birds. They give crucial shelter from wind and cold.
Diverse, abundant and large lichens are excellent natural indicators of clean air. They are effective because they absorb nutrients and pollutants directly from the air. Birds find insects and spiders hiding under tree lichens. These provide them with energy when other sources of food are scarce.
Mountain Laurel berries are not a favorite food of birds. However, they can provide nourishment when food supplies are limited, especially at the end of winter.

Birdbaths underneath the laurel are covered in black tarps. In the spring, they will be filled again. Fresh water will be offered under the laurel, in addition to the food and protection to be found there .

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The Enchanting Blue Hour

Photographers love the “blue hour”, and I was lucky to capture this phenomenon on Solstice Evening. The blue hour is the period just before or just after the sunset. During this time, the landscape, including frozen ponds like this one, is bathed in deep blue light. In northern climates this phenomena often occurs in the colder months.

Wildlife Pond, Mass Audubon Wachusett Meadow

Beavers have kept a stream of water open. It leads to a water hole on the far left. They use this opening to crawl onto the ice.

A close up of the beaver’s hole. Notice the small sticks and branches left on top of the ice.

Currier and Ives Skies

Currier & Ives produced popular lithographs depicting idyllic American winter scenes during the 19th century. These prints featured snow-covered New England towns, with skies of icy-blue or gray enhanced with subtle color shifts. Here are my “updated” Currier and Ives style selections from the most recent snowstorm here in Central Massachusetts.

Holden, Massachusetts

Winter Morning Currier and Ives/ Public Domain
Winter Pastime/ Currier and Ives/ Public Domain

It’s a Color Blast

The Arctic Blast last evening delivered extraordinary, if fleeting, sunset colors that swirled around my rooftop. After the vivid colors faded, temperatures sunk to 6° F., the coldest of the season. Wind chills felt as low as -5°F. My blog’s title “From My Window” can be taken quite literally in this case.

Holden Massachusetts

Ice Breaker

An icy pond at Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary won’t stop this beaver from “going out for dinner”.
A beaver can break off large chunks of ice with its body, chew off smaller pieces, or swim underneath the ice to churn up warmer water from the bottom.
Aquatic plants can be dinner for a beaver, along with bark, bushes and grasses.
This beaver is likely munching water lily roots in the last of the late afternoon sun.

Time to head home…
Past the bird blind….
Near the Wood Duck box….
And finally, home!
The beaver has left behind a perfect trail to visit another day, but human visitors, beware!

Winter Meditation

Zen inspired elements enhance my winter garden.

Zen inspired landscaping offers opportunities for meditation and contemplation in my winter garden. Bamboo is one of the loveliest and most recognizable features.
An invitation to sit is provided by a worn stair step. Below it are smooth hand chosen stones from the Atlantic Ocean.
Rocks suggest mountains, stability…
…and sculptures.
The aged laurel bush, worn by time and weather, is a favorite shelter for native and migrating birds.
A weathered bird feeder ornament intrigues our feathered visitors.

Frozen Meadow Trek

Photos from a winter walk at Mass Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary in Princeton, MA,

It was a chilly 22 degrees at Wachusett Meadow today.
The Beaver Lodge was coated in snow and surrounded by ice.
A light layer of ice on the snow in the South Meadow shone in the low winter light.

Bluebird houses, abandoned until the spring, are a familiar sight along numerous trails.

The cross country skiers and snowshoers who trekked before me made my hike a bit easier today.

A New Year’s Wish: Lonely Fences, Revisited

A winter walk along the winding road to St. Joseph’s Abbey during the Omicron upsurge.

Aging wooden fences line the twisting, hilly, half-mile long road that leads to St. Joseph’s Abbey. The views of fields and distant hills are lovely and uplifting. The walk to the top takes stamina, and provides time for meditation.
Occasionally, one notices posts and railings that need repair.
A closer inspection shows the effect of time and weather.
Closer to the top, the hills beyond come into view.
Finally, the land levels off.
The journey is complete.
Inside the abbey, visitors can rest in the quiet glow of stained glass.
May we all find moments of rest and hope in the New Year.

First Snow, Part Two

The view driving away from the Town Common on Barre Road, Hardwick, MA.
“Meadowbrook” was part of a former dairy.
A typical colonial home of the late 1700s and early 1800s.
Thick, winding stone walls can be viewed throughout the town.
A traditional style Cape Cod home on Ridge Road.
A view of the Town Common, from the left to right: the First Universalist Church, the Historical Society and the Town Hall.
The bell tower of the Town Hall.
The Paige Memorial Fountain with fields beyond, which are used for showing sheep during the Hardwick Fair.
Paige Memorial Fountain with the Congregational Church and a Coffeehouse behind it. (The Coffeehouse was formerly the general store.)
The coffeehouse also includes the Hardwick Post Office.
An historical cemetery abuts the Town Hall.
Holiday decorations on the First Universalist Church capture the imagination.

A Tree for All Seasons

This was originally posted in February of 2018.

The Baldwin apple tree in my yard is an old American variety and provides large greenish-red apples every other year.

But that’s only a start. Because it is larger than most apple trees, it is also a center for shade on a hot summer day, a hide for the the birds, an elegant statuesque centerpiece for the yard, and a winter frame to view the yard from a different perspective.

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Ice World

Winter has transformed the Wildlife Pond at the Wachusett Meadow Audubon in Princeton, MA. The beaver lodge has a chunky white coating, while other areas of the pond sparkle with ice ranging from rough and jagged to windblown and smooth. The red and gold vegetation at the pond edges lends a delicate frame to this “ice world”.

Winter Friends

Winter birds such as the white-crowned sparrows and dark-eyed juncos have been appearing at the Wachusett Meadow Audubon in Princeton, MA. Surprisingly, I spotted an eastern bluebird still hanging around with them. Perhaps he belongs to a group that has wintered here in recent years.

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Winter Guest

This White-Throated Sparrow watched me warily from a nearby bush on a recent walk. It only visits in Winter, spending the other seasons in more northern woods. I think that its “lore” (the bright yellow spot near its eye) stands out just as much as its white throat. Unfortunately, I did not hear its unusual call: a slow whistle following the cadence “Poor Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody”.

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