GREENE CO., MO. –

With temperatures already in the teens, a flicker has sought refuge on the front porch of my parents’ house. The bird is huddled up near the roof, clinging to the brick. Hopefully he (or she — the face isn’t visible) will stay warm enough tonight.

Sleet has finally given way to snow, and I’m experimenting with a new Sony DSC-R1. The huge sensor allowed me to take this image (and that of the flicker) at ISO 3200. This very dim lighting pushes the limits, however — the images are very noisy.

GREENE CO., MO. — The first major storm of the winter is hovering over the Midwest today, dropping ice here in southwest Missouri. Accumulation on trees and power lines has been sufficient to cause downed limbs, localized power interruptions, malfunctioning traffic lights, and exploding transformers, but not severe enough to cause major damage or prolonged blackouts. Precipitation should change to snow in the next few hours.

Me, I love a good winter storm, and a few good birds make the deal even sweeter. Geese and ducks flew beneath heavy gray clouds this morning, and a cock robin stood still on the front lawn. A tiny bird flew across the yard into an oak tree, and its high-pitched voice was as good as a name tag: Golden-crowned Kinglet. It hovered, examining the withered leaves still clutching branches and then flitted away.

Freezing rain in the early morning hours coated every surface in ice.

The Foster’s hollies bore well this year, and a mockingbird has taken up residence in the festive shrubs. Mockingbirds did not previously occur in the neighborhood, so this is an interesting development.

Like everything else, stems and seedheads in the dense stand of asters, coneflowers, liatris, and wild indigo are encased in ice.

Chickadees, titmice, and juncos are the most abundant feeder visitors today, but nuthatches, Mourning Doves, cardinals, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, and a Carolina Wren have been visiting too. Bluebirds and and a Downy Woodpecker lurk around the edges.

GREENE CO., MO. — We’re preparing for another journey, the old silver car and I. I looked up from wiping down a window when I heard shrill waxwing cries. Flying over the house, they landed in the top of a warbler tree, and the low yellow sun reached through gray scuds to paint them — and the naked branches where they rested — a rich and golden brown.

Waxwings kicked off last Saturday’s adventure as we gathered at Lisa’s house in Springfield. Carolina Wrens sang too, and people said it felt like spring.

We made a favorite wintertime loop north and west, adding species steadily (if slowly) through the day. Bonaparte’s Gulls, Common Loons, and Horned Grebes fed near the dam at Stockton Lake. Ring-necked Ducks floated on a pond in Wah’ Kon-Tah Prairie while White-crowned Sparrows skulked in the brush and a harrier tore into a small mammal.

The Prairie Falcons didn’t show at Taberville, but we did see kestrels and snazzy American Tree Sparrows.

Schell-Osage held Mallards, Green-winged Teal, Gadwall, pintails, wigeons, and shovelers, a pipit, a Greater Yellowlegs, and a Killdeer. Flocks of Greater White-fronted Geese descended over the road, the birds careening wildly on long, slender wings as they approached the water.

Snow Geese streamed in a procession of skeins that stretched farther than sight reaches, leaving the sky by the thousands to pack tightly together on earth and water. Their din was muffled by distance; a small group of pelicans huddled on the bank nearer by.

It was a two-Merlin day and a four-eagle day. Aside from providing the second Merlin, but Prairie State Park was disappointingly still.

And at Shawnee Trail CA, we watched the Short-eared Owls until light was nearly gone. To see the prairie owls’ snappy wingbeats and startling plunges never fails to take my breath and capture my imagination. They were active that night, tumbling through the air in pairs with emphatic yips — but whether in love or contention I couldn’t say.

FAIRBORN, OHIO — Mostly, I’ve seen starlings this weekend. Starlings strung along billboards and powerlines; starlings gliding through gray skies.

Yesterday, I heard a flock of small woodland residents while walking in a place I used to know. The nuthatch and Downy Woodpecker called first, then the chickadee, and last, the Carolina Wren.

I couldn’t see them in the bare trees across the street, but it was enough to know that they are there.

GREENE CO., MO. — I can count on one hand the bird species I encountered today. There was the tiny Carolina Wren bobbing among far larger shells on the porch. There was the chickadee I heard, once. And there were the starlings strewn across a damp and chilly sky.

I’ve been back just over a week now, and I feel cut off from the natural world, sealed up tightly in insulated, reinforced boxes. In PNG, I woke up to birdsong. The boundaries between outside and inside were porous; nature was much more present in my life.

But now, everything is different.

The weather is partly to blame, of course. It wasn’t 38 degrees with blowing rain in PNG.

Not that anyone in southwest Missouri is complaining about the rain. Yesterday, in my first real birding trip since I’ve been home, I was appalled by the state of Fellows Lake — or Fellows Pond if it doesn’t get some help.

I found a loon, but could not locate the reported Western Grebe. Oddly enough, I did find half a dozen Horned Grebes. Just as I suspected.

Cedar Waxwings swarmed in the hardwoods all along the lake’s north shore. Robins were plentiful too, and juncos. One by one, I picked out species I hadn’t seen for months: Red-headed Woodpeckers, a sapsucker, cardinals, and jays, bluebirds and chickadees.

Yes, it’s very good to see you all again, my friends.