It should come as no surprise to most of the country that we have experienced snow here in Anacortes in mid-February. It has snowed here almost continuously from the night of Feb 12-13 until late in the afternoon of February 14. I always relish the opportunity to photograph birds in the snow because it makes for a different environment and the birds behave differently. I have been feeding birds during this time, mostly on the ground (snow) but also from a suet feeder and a chickadee feeder. I had hoped for visits from a rarer bird or two (a neighbor has had a Varied thrush and Red-breasted sapsucker) but my yard is filled with the same birds. So here are some of our residents… in the snow!

This first photo is, of course, of a male Dark-eyed junco of the Oregon race.

This photo is of the same species and sex, but is the leucistic bird that has been with us for a couple of months now. He comes with camouflage that is suddenly appropriate for the weather!

Continuing with the sparrow family, Spotted towhees… this first image is a male and the second image probably a female. (It’s sometimes a subtle difference between the sexes!)

A Golden-crowned sparrow. I used to think I could tell the difference between the sexes of this species in the winter but I’ve given up the idea that I ever had that skill! If I had to guess, I would say that this first bird is probably a male and the second bird either a female or a first-year bird.

This is a Song sparrow. These birds aren’t very gregarious and I’ve only ever counted two in the yard at one time, but most of the time I can spot only one.

When I first moved to the Pacific Northwest (20 years ago from Texas) I had a very difficult time telling the Song and Fox species apart. That is no longer the case. This is a Fox sparrow…

This final image is of a female Bushtit. It’s been a while since I last obtained a decent Bushtit photo and this one isn’t great, but since these birds can be difficult to photograph and this photo clearly reveals the sex of the bird, I decided to post it.

From a photography standpoint, the snow can offer special challenges. If it’s actively snowing the whiteness of the flakes can appear to be aberrations in the bird’s plumage or obscure details such as eyes or beaks. But the snow often offers opportunities to get closer to the birds and to obtain a different background for photos. The white dot above the Bushtit is probably a falling snowflake (which I could remove using Lightroom software) but you can imagine the effort if there was a lot of snow falling!