Three deer

With temps in the mid-60s today, my officemate and I couldn't resist taking a walk at lunchtime. We didn't have to go far before we saw these three deer.

Teddy's winter coat

Wadda you looking at?

Lo and behold, we have blooms

Warm weather

It's the end of January and it was 60 degrees when I woke up at 4:30 this morning. If this warm weather keeps up, we'll have spring flowers blooming soon.

Carolina Wren poses

Not what I had in mind!

Someone found the mealworms

Dark-eyed Junco must love snow

I hadn't seen a Dark-eyed Junco since the last snowfall but had several visiting over the weekend after we had a snow/ice mixture come down Friday night.

Everybody's welcome

Cooper's Hawk gets closer

We've had hawk sightings in and around our yard the past few months so I've assumed they're stalking our birds. I'm now convinced that's what they're doing since this Cooper's Hawk was sitting on the fence right beside my feeders. We placed my feeders 12 feet from my kitchen window so I was able to get this photo before it flew away.

Pretty Chickadee

Top of the Currituck Beach Lighthouse

Martin Van Buren home

As seen at the US Botanic Gardens

Old Glory at the US Capitol

Goldfinch sticking around

Hungry Carolina Wren

This little Carolina Wren was patiently waiting its turn at the feeder

Tufted Titmouse in tree

New Nyger sock

It didn't take the Goldfinch long to find the new Nyger sock I put out this week

Female Northern Cardinal

Teddy Bear

First snow of 2012

Old Moon Rises

I watched the first full moon after the December solstice, or the Old Moon, rise last night and what a sight it was. As you can see in the first photo, the Moon was wrapped in a glow it was so bright.

Conner House

I rode around the city yesterday checking out places I hadn't been to in a long time. One stop was historic Conner House which I hadn't seen since before the restoration work began. The house sits on top of a hill and we used to take our kids sledding there after a good snow. I thought the house looked beautiful.

Orion's Belt

No, I'm not posting a blank photo. I was stargazing last night, looking for the Winter Circle star pattern. I spotted it and tried to take a photo but was only able to capture part of the constellation Orion. Click on the photo to enlarge it and you'll see the three stars of Orion's Belt (Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka) in the center.

What a glorious sunrise today

American Goldfinch

Mount Vernon at the U.S. Botanic Gardens

Northern Cardinal returns

It's been a while since I've seen the Northern Cardinal but am happy to report it's been a frequent visitor this past week

Never-ending beauty

My Nandina continues to provide never-ending beauty

Happy new year!

Feasting on a slice of wheat bread, the Carolina Wren is the first visitor of 2012