18 December 2020

It began snowing here in Pittsburgh on Wednesday morning, 16 December 2020, and didn’t stop for 17.5 hours. By 7:30 the next morning there were 9.25 inches of snow in Oakland. City lights glowed against the snow and clouds.

Yesterday I took a long walk to Pitt’s campus, Carnegie Library and Schenley Park to appreciate the beauty. Here are a few of the scenes I encountered.

On my way home I found one of Santa’s elves near the Library!

Though the snow didn’t melt it did compress in 24 hours. Here are two snapshots of the Pitt peregrine nestbox at 7:30am on Thurs 17 Dec and Fri 18 Dec. Though there is still a lot of snow it is not as daunting, even if it hasn’t been shoveled.

No peregrines visited the nest yesterday but I know they are present. I saw Morela perched on a gargoyle.

UPDATE 18 Dec 2020, 4:08pm: Morela examines the snow.

(photos by Kate St. John; statues photo by Richard St. John)