February 23, 2012



This morning was glorious late-winter at our farm, with numerous signs of
impending spring. The temperature was in the low fifties, making only a
jacket or sweatshirt (and not both) necessary



The hordes of feeder birds have been ravenous of late, although no actual
ravens have joined in, just the usual seventeen winter species. I will let
you guess what they are… it won’t be hard. An incoming nuthatch
(white-breasted) practically skewered me immediately after I finished
reloading the suet feeder.



Jane and I took our usual daily post-morning-farmchore circuit around the
property, a mile-and-a-half hike over the hilltop pasture and through the
wooded ravines.



Bluebirds were singing everywhere as we began our walk, always a delightful
sound. Red-winged blackbirds (males) are now more numerous and singing. A
couple honest-to-goodness meadowlarks are hanging around, instead of only
that imposter starling that has been mimicking one all winter. I saw two
meadowlarks singing in December, but this morning’s two were the first
confirmed since then, officially now my first-of-season. A killdeer was
screaming in flight over the field.



Song sparrows joined in the chorus this morning, both in the edge habitat
and in the woods. Woodpeckers were calling and drumming: downy, hairy,
red-bellied and pileated. Blue jays and crows provided plenty of raucous
company.



On non-avian notes, I saw my first-of-season chipmunk skitter across one of
the ravines on a dead fallen limb. We smelled fox musk at a couple
locations this morning. The groundwater is fully recharged, the springs are
gushing and the seeps are springing. "Valhalla Falls," a forty inch cascade
over the Upper Mercer Limestone, is almost impressive. Delightful place!



As we climbed back uphill toward the house I heard the first-of-season
trilling of a junco. Juncos have been very numerous for some time below our
feeders, but this is the first I have heard one sing this winter.



Looking out in the pasture, we could see the horses sunning themselves and
rolling in the mud. Brutus won yesterday's muddiest horse contest. Today it
looks like it might be Duchess.



A red-shouldered hawk (or two) has been engaging in what I would guess are
territorial flights, acrobatically soaring and flapping high above the
upland while calling loudly and incessantly. I see and hear this species
quite a bit both at home and around my business location in southern
California (Orange County), something it shares with house finch and common
yellowthroat, coincidental occurrences that I find amusing, or at least
worth a smile. No yellowthroats this time of year in these parts, but they
will be back in good time.



Last night the pair of Canada geese that have been flying around morning
and evening for days finally settled into the pond my neighbor built in the
drainage across the road four winters ago. I have been wondering if this
would happen. One of them, I assume the male, was honking away until well
after dark.



The development of this pond as a habitat interests me. We have no actual
wetland on our property. The pond in question lies about 250 meters from
our front door, and it is nestled into the woods. This contrasts with a
pair of other farm ponds that have been around since before we moved in 12
years ago. The nearest of those ponds is 370 meters distant from us, but
they are in the middle of open agricultural fields, clearly a more sterile
setting. There have always been a few blackbirds nesting in the cattails
around those ponds, and the blackbirds quickly colonized the edges of the
newer pond as well, the first season I believe. But these geese are the
first waterfowl I have seen (or heard) attempt nesting at either location.
We will see what happens with that.



I’m sure winter isn’t done with us yet, but it is nice to shed a few layers
of clothing and enjoy the vernal promise. Life is good.

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