On the coldest morning, this chickadee was fluffed up as much as possible while eating a sunflower seed.
This female cardinal became alarmed when I turned the big lens her way. Here she's giving me a very suspicious look....	And here she's flying away. I thought I'd just missed the shot, but instead I just caught her.
Field sparrows eat at the hanging feeders, alongside chickadees, titmice, and finches. Other sparrows feed on the ground.	This male house finch sometimes drinks with goldfinches...and when the red and the yellow are in the water together, it's something to see.
The entire open grass was covered with ice from the freezing mist and rain and sleet. It looked like a rumpled white blanket, more glittery than snow.	Although the top of the grass layer was ice-crusted, it had not penetrated into the taller grass, so small birds and animals could shelter there; the shorter grass gave less protection.
Cactus flats looked really decorative, since the broomweed between the cacti--and every spine on the cactus--caught and held bits of sparkling ice.
By afternoon, the ice on the cactus pads was beginning to flake off.	And on some of the spines the ice was starting to melt--but on the other side of the pad, the spines still had their coating of ice.
This goldfinch picture is crisp...but the dead black eye with no highlight doesn't look natural.	Here, applying a correction to the eye alone brings up a natural-looking highlight.
Too much lightening produced an eye that almost looked diseased.	Here, less lightening looked more natural--and healthy.

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