A month into 2024, and the crows, like the rest of us, have already experienced several seasons.
Vancouver has had “mild and wet” followed by “bloody freezing” and “snowpocalypse” leading, inevitably to “slushmageddon” with, “record-breakingly warm and wet” to round out the month.
We’re all suffering from weather whiplash!
2024 began with pretty standard Wet Coast weather — good conditions for “crows in puddles” photography.
Marvin, Mavis and Lucky (right) debate puddle ownership with Norman and Nancy (January 8)
By mid-month temperatures had plunged to around -13C at night (colder with the wind chill factor) and it was “tuck your feet up into the pantaloons” time for the crows …
… and “wake up at the crack of dawn to check the hummingbird feeder” for me.
After several frigid days the cold snap eased — and the snow started.
It kept on snowing until our neighbourhood was an unrecognizable winter wonderland. The human inhabitants shovelled … and shovelled … and shovelled some more.
Sometimes there was just too much shovelling …
People got around on skis and toboggans and schools were closed for two days in a row. If you didn’t HAVE to get somewhere, it was magical.
“Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow” — Christina Rossetti
One of my favourite moments was seeing a little girl in a pink snowsuit passionately declaring while throwing herself face-first into the snow, “This is the BEST day of my life!”
Of course, she probably didn’t have to do any shovelling!
My biggest regret: not getting a picture of the night-time unicyclist pedalling through the snow with a plastic toboggan tucked under one arm.
More standard snow commuting options — dig out the car or risk a bike ride.
The crows, unequipped with shovels or sleds, just had to forge their own way through the drifts.
Especially for last year’s fledglings, it must have been confusing to find their normal perches inaccessible. Roofs, railings and branches were suddenly at capacity with snow, making Hydro wires the most reliable landing option.
At least one crow did some of his or her own “digging” to make more room.
A little bit of snow crow semaphore …
Send …………………………………………peanuts ………………………………………… please!
Of course, this being Vancouver, the magic was fleeting and there were more days of slush than there had been of snow.
Slightly confused gull
Lucky in slush
Sparky doing his best in the slush
Vancouver rain acts like a fire hose, and we were soon back to our seasonally normal colour palette of black, white and grey.
Bongo in his damp monochrome world
On the plus side, it’s now back to excellent puddle photography weather!
It’s so mild that it feels … sneakily … unreliably … a bit like spring.
The hellebores are in full bloom!
I haven’t had a chance pick some, place them in a bowl photograph them yet, but I will as soon as it stops raining.
In the meantime, here’s a tiny (literally) sneak peak at a little hellebore- happiness-raven inspired thing I’ve been working on …
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Love the snow pictures
The crows are out in force this morning here in Halifax. The snow sees them coming to my door for treats.
Your photography, art & writings are true joy. Thank You! 🙂
Lisa Teuscher
Magical snow photos June!
best description of Vancouver’s weird winter. I loved the snow removal crow the best! Tanya H
So excellent! – loved the photos and commentary. Warmed my heart.
The mysterious unicyclist was my son, heading out to do some sledding. Apparently, unicycle behaved just a bit better in the snow than a bicycle:)
I thought it might be! We were with Rachelle when he unicycled by and she thought it might be him. Epic moment 🙂
As always, your images are fabulous! If you can put the crow contemplating his own reflection in print, I would love to give one as a gift.
Hi Rebecca —thanks! I do have a very similar crow gazing at their reflection print in the shop now (called Time for Reflection) — but send me an email if you’d rather have the one in the blog and I can add that one to the shop too!
Amazing photos, and commentary as always! Thanks, June!