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| Myself along the Manayunk Canal. Photo by Ken Januski. |
A year ago I broke down and bought some snowshoes, then a short time later bought some more for my wife Jerene. I knew that this would almost guarantee that we would get no snow last winter and probably for the next 5-10 winters. But no, we were able to get out a few times last year. At other times just the poles by themselves proved helpful when hiking icy ruts.
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| Jerene along the Manayunk Canal. Photo by Ken Januski. |
Unfortunately we were not able to get out during our recent snowstorm/blizzard. Then finally today we made it to the Manayunk Canal, where unlike many areas, there was still a lot of snow on the ground. Above you see both me and Jerene. The camera was misbehaving so they're not the best photos but at least they show some documentation of our snowshoe birding.
Though we'd hoped to see some winter waterfowl, especially along the Schuylkill River, there wasn't anything unusual. But we did see four Common Mergansers and three Hooded Mergansers, the first of 2016. Seeing them is always a sign that winter really is here!
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| Ruddy Turnstone at Stone Harbor jetty. Brush Painting by Ken Januski. |
Just as we've been too busy to enjoy the snow I've been too busy to do any artwork. But I found an hour a day or two ago to do this brush painting of a Ruddy Turnstone seen on a jetty at Stone Harbor, NJ last May. I continue to enjoy working with a Chinese brush and ink stick.
