^{Pine Grosbeak. Canon R5, 500mm, tripod, 1/4000 @ f5.6, ISO 1600}

About a week ago, we still didn’t have any snow on the ground. Since then, we’ve had about two feet of snow and have a decent snowpack for this time of year. Along with winter finally arriving, the pine grosbeaks have returned. The first pair actually arrived on November 22nd, but now there’s about 10 to 15 regularly showing up in my backyard. Hopefully the snow will continue, though I won’t complain about a sunny day here or there. The snowpack we accumulate over the winter is responsible for much of the water we have through the summer, so the ecosystem is very dependent on winter snow.