Falling into winter

Already we have had more precipitation in the last two storms than in the last two months...and the snow is wet. The trees branches are cracking under the weight. The red and withered crab apples peek out from under a pile of snow covering them. A little kestrel kept a close eye on me when I was waking the dog. I believe it was scouting the wide open fields around the buildings here. Although covered with about 6 inches of snow, the weeds have enough bare ground around them that mice and voles are probably visible to the little predator's beady eyes.

A few shots of this lovely little bird: from a local biologist
and from one of my favorite wildlife photographers on the East Coast