Counting Down

The days are getting shorter and shorter as we move towards the Winter Solstice. It's only a matter of one or two minutes shorter each day and it happens every year. Don't get me wrong, I love the long days in the summer and this is the price we have to pay for living north of the 49 th parallel, but getting dark at around 4 pm seems a tad early to me and I know the days are even shorter further north.

The Solstice will occur at 05:30 (or 5:30am) Universal Time (UT) on December 22, 2011 at the longitude of Greenwich, England. It is known as the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere and the summer solstice in the southern hemisphere due to the seasonal differences. The date of the solstice varies from December 20 to December 23 depending the year in the Gregorian calendar.

Because Earth doesn’t orbit upright, but is instead tilted on its axis by 23-and-a-half degrees, Earth’s northern and southern hemispheres trade places in receiving the sun’s light and warmth most directly. That’s what causes winter and summer.

At the December solstice, Earth is positioned in its orbit so that the sun stays 23-and-a-half degrees below the north pole horizon on the day of the December solstice. As seen from 23-and-a-half degrees south of the equator, at the imaginary line encircling the globe known as the Tropic of Capricorn, the sun shines directly overhead at noon. This is as far south as the sun ever gets. All locations south of the equator have day lengths greater than 12 hours at the December solstice (their summer). Meanwhile, all locations north of the equator have day lengths less than 12 hours (our winter).

The bridge in the park before the sun is fully up

Long shadows at this time of year

So cooler days, long shadows and early sundowns. I find that I have less energy this time of year. On a recent sunny day I went down to the park to see check on the bird and animal residents. Many birds have migrated south for the winter, others like the snow geese winter here and summer in the "land of the northern sun".

The ducks seemed to be dozing, waiting for the sun to shine on their pond.

Then a Mallard duck has a quick bath before getting on with the day.

Then get on with the business of feeding. Here the ducks share a patch of grass with a Northern Red Shafted Flicker.

American Wigeons



Northern Red Shafted Flicker



There are still a few red-winged black birds around the pond, often on or near the rushes. They have such a distinctive song and I often hear them long before I catch sight of one.


Red Winged Black Bird



These crows were picking up and tossing the leaves, I guess in hopes of finding something edible beneath them.


Crow rummaging in the fallen leaves

 

These squirrels were feasting on the remaining berries or seeds in this tree.
 

A pair of squirrels feasting on berries



No sign of the beaver, but they have been busy here recently.

The heron appeared to be just waking from a nap, this one is high in a tree.

Most of these rabbits are feasting on black berry leaves but the black one seems to prefer the grass

Alyssum still flowering in the park

Grackle I think

 This seagull was strutting about and very vocal. Think he wanted his parents to feed him.

There has been quite a variety of funghi this year too, but these and the remaining flowers will soon be gone.

Like the animals and birds, I tend to sleep in a bit, seek shelter in the poor weather and get out whenever the sun shines. I will be glad when the solstice arrives and the days start getting a bit longer again, not long now.

"There is something about winter

which pares things down to their essentials

a bare tree

a black hedge

hold their own stark throne in our hearts."

 Moya Cannon

Here is some beautiful music for a winters day.

Vivaldi - Four Seasons (Winter)

I finished a commission this week and an image for our personal Christmas card. I do a new one every year and then release it onto the website the following year. I'll show you it in a couple of weeks.

Sometimes it is difficult to know when a painting or drawing is finished. That is true of this drawing (graphite and pencil crayon) of a cat I called "Mattie". I recently took it out and reworked it, now maybe it's finished. Honestly sometimes I need someone to physically take the pencil (or brush) out of my hand and say enough, this may be one of those cases:

"Mattie" - graphite and pencil crayon cat

Thanks for stopping by, happy Whimsy Wednesday, until next week.......

Snow Report

"The first fall of snow is not only an event, but it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up to find yourself in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment, then where is it to be found?"
J. B. Priestley



Snow decorating one of my gargoyles

We often have some snow in November, so I don't know why I was surprised when I got up one day recently and it was snowing. Not a blizzard, but a small snowfall, and short lived. I have heard quite a few predictions of a colder winter than usual; only time will tell.

My first reaction to snow is child like wonder: snow muffles sound, changes the light both day and night and has a way of catching my attention and slowing the world down as it slowly floats to the ground. Then I remember that snow in the city makes getting around by car, transit, bicycle and foot difficult and unlike rain, it needs to be shovelled.

Some of the garden plants were surprised by the early snow. Many trees were still hanging onto their leaves so the heavy wet snow caused some downed branches and trees. First here are some pictures of my garden with its early carpet of snow.

The paths and walkways and fields were briefly covered with snow and I managed to get a few pictures.

The sky was heavy long after the snow had stopped. Here are pictures of the beach and view across the water towards the local mountains.

The snow is starting to build up on the mountains, ski season will be starting soon.

Here's another snow spotting, my first sighting of the Snow Goose this year.

The Snow Geese arrive in our area in large flocks in mid October to November. The Snow Goose is a North American species of goose that gets the name from its typically white plumage.
The snow goose  breeds north of the timberline (in Greenland, northern Canada, Alaska, and the northeastern tip of Siberia) and winters in warm parts of North America, from our area of southwestern British Columbia, through parts of the United States to Mexico. The goose population that overwinters here come from an island (Wrangle Island) off the north coast of Siberia.

Outside of the nesting season, they usually feed in flocks. In winter, snow geese feed on left-over grain in fields. They migrate in large flocks, often visiting traditional stopover habitats in spectacular numbers. The Reifel Bird Sanctuary and adjacent fields are a popular stop over each year. The estimate of snow geese wintering in our area is 75,000 birds.

I photographed this small group of birds in a waterfront park near Steveston, B.C, not far, from Reifel Bird Sanctuary as the goose flies.

Pink feet and beak of mature bird in contrast to duller colours on immature birds

Known as Lesser Snow Geese they are white except for black wing tips and bright pink legs, feet and beak. The immature birds are not the bright white colour yet nor have they developed the distinctive pink beak and feet.

The pink bill with black tomia ("cutting edges"), gives them a black "grin patch." The heads of these birds are stained rusty-brown from minerals in the soil where they feed. Snow Geese are very vocal and can often be heard from more than a mile away.

So to get back to the weather, will it be a largely snow-less year here in Vancouver or will it be more like a the winter we had three years ago? Here are some pictures of that snowfall. The first two are fairly close to where I live, and a main road usually full of traffic.

I took a walk through the snow down Spanish Trail (#23 on the map) to the beach and got these beautiful snow pictures:



Part of downtown Vancouver is visible in the distance



So what kind of a winter will we have this year? Who knows, but one thing is for sure, the snow geese are around for the rest of the winter feasting on the fields and delighting bird lovers.

Winter Snow-Audrey Assad Cover-Kelly-Lynn Live:

I have been working on a commission painting (of a pet) most of the week, not quite finished yet, but close. I took a break from it today to do this watercolour sketch of Snow Geese, as a sketch it's OK but will need work and probably a better starting photograph, before it turns into a painting.

Happy Whimsy Wednesday, thanks for dropping by, until next week.......