The Ohio River is rising and the backwater next to the Kraton plant along
rt. 618 had a pair of Hooded Mergansers this afternoon. This backwater area
usually is home of lots of mallards, Canada geese and Great Blue Herons do
it was nice to see something a little different.

Not too far away on the railroad trestle next to the downtown bridge to
Parkersburg the Peregrine falcons have been present through most of the
winter. If you walk across the new bridge in the very late afternoon or
early evening you can probably get a very nice close view of one or both of
them.

In the yard here in Little Hocking I had a juvenile Red-Shouldered Hawk in
the tree by the bird feeder. It was odd to see this big raptor within about
10 feet of all the songbirds while they totally ignored it and continued to
work the feeders. I also had a beautiful pair of Fox Sparrows shuffling
through the leaves outside the office windows this afternoon. They are in
their beautiful breeding plumage. The colors and patterns so bright and
clear. The Tufted Titmouse has been gathering horsehair from the nesting
material wreath for a couple of weeks now. It was a little surreal to watch
it plucking huge beakfuls of hair backlit by the sun with sparkling
snowflakes drifting down all around it. The horsehair is leftover shed hair
from last year. My old gray horse had to be put down in November so it's his
legacy to the birds. The Yellow-throated Warbler will miss his white hair. I
guess I'll have to find some other white horses this spring to restock my
wreath.

Lee Underschultz
Firefly Hollow
Little Hocking, OH
www.fhsigns.com
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