Brrrrrr……
A winter storm warning on December 26 had our hopes high for the Southeast Arizona equivalent of a blizzard but all we got was a lot of wind and a dusting of snow. Better than nothing though. The cold overnight temps on the 27th and 28th — 14 and 16 degrees respectively turned out to be more significant than the snowfall. I quickly found out which plants brought up from Tucson were not going to make it in this climate zone. The most obvious was the poor spineless Opuntia that the Javelinas nibbled on both in Tucson and here. It collapsed into a mushy mess after the hard freezes. You can see it on the left in the photo below before the collapse but obviously frozen solid.
This is all we got in the way of snow
We also reached an all-time high for House Finches during this inclement weather — 109 counted on the 27th! Lesser Goldfinches appeared in greater numbers too. This kind of weather brings ‘em in!
Lesser Goldfinches and House Finches on thistle feeder
A Canyon Towhee scratches for seeds
Vesper Sparrow keeping warm
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