Ice Storm

We were in a major ice storm last night that brought down tree limbs. A big limb fell off our maple, right next to the bird feeder. Glad it didn't hit the house.

The feeders are coated with a thick layer of ice. Don is scraping them off, so the birds can feed.

Outside we constantly hear the cracking of more limbs and trees as they fall. You can see the birches at the base of our twin pines are bent almost to the ground. This really messes up birches and some never recover.

We have no electricity (I'm using my computer's stored battery power to post this) and neither do hundreds of thousands of people in the East. It is supposed to go down into the 'teens tonight. Fortunately we have a wood stove.

Help the birds by filling the feeders and scraping off the ice. Throw some seed on the ground for the ground-feeding species of birds. This weather can be brutal for birds because just about all their food sources are covered with ice.

If there is any upside, it's that there will be lots of dead snags and tree stubs for woodpeckers to make homes in this spring.