Conowingo in February 2016

We thought the day was going to be sunny - lots of light for photographing birds - but it became cloudy not long after we got there. And it was cold and breezy. The birds seemed more interested in hunkering down and staying warm than fishing even though the dam’s generator were running and churning up lots of water.

There was still some snow on the ground from a snowstorm over a week before. When I took this picture I thought the rock on the right looked like a floppy eared animal coming out of a winter’s sleep!

And what about the maze of ice in this close up of a snow bank over gravel. The melt pattern was not uniform at all.

The river water was moving swiftly and all the snow along the lower bank had melted. The color variation of the rocks has a lot of visual appeal sandwiched between the monotones of water and snow.

There were several birds that flew into the trees. This one has a fish that it finished off from its perch in the tree.

Another just seemed to survey the photographers that were along the fence between the parking lot and the Susquehanna River.

The most interesting of the birds in the trees was the black vulture. Its feathers were fluffed against the cold and ruffled by the wind. I was interested to note the white in the feathers; it is noticeable when they are viewed from below when they are soaring but I had not seen the white when they were on the ground. And look at the claws – they look like evil-looking curved fingernails.

The only Bald Eagle I managed to photography was a little too far away. The eagles are the main reason we go… so I was glad to get at least one picture.

There was another larger bird that caught a fish near the dam….but it flew off to the other side of the river. It was quite a bit larger than the gull.

There was a tree that had some velvety buds. After I got home I did some research. Aargh! It is a Princess Tree - a non-native, invasive species.

As we headed home, I noticed that the ice patches on the road has mostly melted. I drank some more of my hot tea from the Thermos – using the cup to warm my hands.