A Birdy Week

This week started with the annual Great Backyard Bird Count on Sunday. The Black-capped Chickadees once again were the most prevalent in the half hour that I was watching. But a couple other types of birds made an appearance too, some Tufted Titmice and 2 kinds of Nuthatches, Red-breasted and White-breasted.

Monday morning there were a couple of doves eating under the feeder with the little red squirrel.

Tuesday morning, while letting Mosa decided if she wanted to brave the snow, I spotted a Pileated Woodpecker on a pine tree about 50 feet from the back of the house. You know, the one that Warner Bros. used to designed Woody Woodpecker. It's the white spot in the very center of this picture:If you want to see a better picture, check out Wikipedia's entry.

Then, this morning, a family of 5 Gold Finches came to our backyard feeders. You can (almost?) see 2 here on the green feeder on the left. Everybody else flew away when I got the camera (of course).
I wonder who's going to show up next?

Squirrely Happiness

Red squirrels make me so happy. They're all twitchy and jittery. They move so quickly, they're a streak across the snow. Yet they're happy to sit and eat seeds under our feeder. We have two red squirrels that frequent our feeders. They have created a network of tunnels that makes it possible to get from the woods to the feeder, across the 40 feet of open space, without being seen. It's so nice to see them in the morning, they snack and skitter while I have my coffee. It's a good start to the day for both of us.

Spring!

For the first time that I can remember, the Robins are agreeing with the Vernal Equinox! Today on my way home I stopped at the mailbox, and there, on the neighbor's lawn across the street, was a Robin. She (OK, I don't know she was a "she", but Mother Nature brings the first day of spring, so...) She was all puffed up, it's a pretty cool, windy day here, but she was there!

Yeah Spring!

This leads me to the other things I was thinking of today: birds, and trees popping.

I've seen a lot of birds returning this week. Tuesday on my way to work, I saw a single Great Blue Heron standing on one of last years nests in the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge. Which by the way, have you ever seen a Great Blue Heron standing on one of their nests? They nest at the top of the dead trees in a swampy area, they're pretty amazing to see, standing stark against the sky...

Today on the way to work, I saw 2 Canada Geese fly in for a landing on the ice covering the refuge pond. Everybody's returning from their winter habitats.

Two towns over from us, in Ayer, the maple (Acer) trees look ready to burst. The buds are popping, another sign of spring! The maple sugaring season has started, buckets are appearing on trees around the area. Makes me think of sugaring back home, when I was a kid. My mom was the principal sugar-er, she slaved over the stove in the little red barn all day (and sometimes all night, maple syrup waits for no one!) My sister S and I would come home from school and get some yummy maple tea-the combination of almost-maple syrup boiling on the stove, and sap kept in the milk can in the snow bank, combined to just the right temperature to warm you, but not scald. I wonder if I'd still like it today?

Snowy morning

Mother Nature has decided to show me she's not ready for spring, no matter how many chipmunks are running around. Its snowing again this morning. We were almost able to see the wonderful shingle job we did on the garage-mahal, and now it's covered in white again.

Spring's almost here...

The venal equinox is March 20. But I don't define my seasons based on the movement of the sun. I define them based on the movement of animals.

The first indication that spring is on the way? Chipmunks. They only come out from their near hibernation when they know spring is coming. I've never known them to be wrong. When I see the first chipmunk, I know winter's giving up its last hurrah.

The true indicator of the first day of spring is the Robin. When the Robin is back in the area, spring is here.

I saw my first chipmunk 2 weeks ago. Never mind that there was still 3 feet of snow out our door, I knew spring was almost here. And when E and I were in Cambridge on Sunday, we saw 2 Robins. So spring has made it that far. I give it another week or so before its made its way here.