Northern Flicker On The Edge of Spring ...

 “A forest bird never wants a cage.”

   ~ Henrik Ibsen

            ~ 1828 ~ 1906

I spotted this yellow-shafted Northern Flicker – the first I’ve ever captured in a photo – nestled in the grass gazing upon the looming late winter sunset of a March day at Lehigh Parkway, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

According to All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Northern Flickers are large, brown woodpeckers with a gentle expression and handsome black-scalloped plumage. On walks, don’t be surprised if you scare one up from the ground. It’s not where you’d expect to find a woodpecker, but flickers eat mainly ants and beetles, digging for them with their unusual, slightly curved bill. When they fly you’ll see a flash of color in the wings – yellow if you’re in the East, red if you’re in the West – and a bright white flash on the rump.

Vanilla Ice ...

“I got all my boyhood in vanilla winter waves around the kitchen stove.”

              ~ Jack Kerouac

                ~1922 ~ 1969

Winter’s icy beauty infuses Wehr’s Dam with a frozen splendor that makes the waters of the Jordan Creek look like vanilla ice on a late January day.

The dam, built in 1904, is next to Wehr’s Covered Bridge, which dates back to 1841, at Covered Bridge Park, Orefield, Pennsylvania.

 

Snow Cardinal ...

“Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.”

    ~ Rabindranath Tagore

     ~ 1861 ~ 1941

 

A beautiful male North American Cardinal brings a pop of red to an early March snowfall on a beautiful late winter afternoon at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

 

January ...

 “January is here, with eyes that keenly glow,

A frost-mailed warrior striding a steady steed of snow.”

     ~ Edgar Fawcett

            ~ American novelist & poet

                  ~ 1847 ~ 1904

A tranquil snowscape paints a January afternoon at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

 I captured this scene a day after a fresh snowfall and that reflects the canvas of winter’s quiet beauty.