This morning as Jane and I were taking our hike around our property, I
heard "our" Louisiana waterthrush singing in our easternmost, deepest
ravine, in which the springs and stream are really gushing and flowing from
the recent rains. "Valhalla Falls" actually looks like a mountain stream.

The arrival of the waterthrush always makes me smile. Last year I almost
missed it, since I left April 10 for what turned out to be over five months
of at-sea expedition. 2014's first waterthrush was calling on April 8. The
earliest ever for here (in my experience since 2001) has been March 31. We
took the same walk yesterday without hearing the waterthrush, so I think
this morning's song truly heralded the arrival.

Phoebe's are now calling in a few locations, having first appeared April 2.
Tree swallows have returned to the uplands, arriving April 1. At least two
(possibly three) brown thrashers have been gracing our evenings with an
entertaining variety of vocalizations, "trading twos" from their respective
vantage points around the pasture edges.

Life is good.

Bob Evans
Geologist, etc.
Valhalla Acres Fiber Farm
on Flint Ridge
Hopewell Township, Muskingum County

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