This has been quite the winter so far in Portland Oregon with temperatures below normal which this week brought an incredible snowfall to our neighborhood! In my wildest dreams I could not have imagined my shed and the wrought iron tree beside it looking so amazing!!!
As I look out into the back yard I remember only a few weeks ago taking this photo of one of my chow WHINE glasses and there were still blooms in the garden. You can see the shed in the distance. This one of a kind glass will be going up for auction on my FACEBOOK STUDIO PAGE this coming Sunday, January 15th and closing on January 18th. Check my FB page link Sunday morning for more info!
One of my female humming-brrrrrrrds holding her own in the cold weather. The “Anna’s Hummingbird” is one of the few species that don’t migrate from the Pacific Northwest. So many people ask me about how my winter hummies survive “On particularly cold evenings, Anna’s (and other species) enter a state similar to hibernation called torpidity.
John K. Terres, author of The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of Birds, defined torpidity as “a state of inactivity that is brought about by certain physiological changes – greatly lowered heart rate, breathing rate, and metabolism, and a greatly reduced response to external stimulation.”
While hibernation is generally thought of as a long-term period (an entire winter – bears are a good example), torpidity is very short term, usually only overnight or for several nights in a row.” (SOURCE)
This is the female from my front yard pair. They are in such a suspended state in torpor that I can walk right up to them. Every so often one will try to land on my neck to benefit from some body heat. I can never get enough of these little gems in my garden.
The ole girl Sophie (14) may not be able to see much but the sensation of the cold snow is keeping her very busy trying to eat up every morsel of the giant snowcone. She loves this stuff.
And then there is the handsome”Onni”. He was so interested in listening to the mouse under the snow and I wish I could have caught the “pounce” seconds later. He looked for all the world like he was hunting on a Nat Geo episode.
