In the late afternoon, one of them would move back in the box. I’ve never seen the fledglings, but I’m hopeful this pair was successful. I want to believe they left the box to encourage the young to leave.

Now, it has been two days, and there is no sign of either. I have to say, I miss them and I’ve been a little melancholy today. I hope they come back next year. I’ve gotten so much pleasure from watching them.

Another recent addition to the yard is a family of Tufted Titmice. They are busy going back and forth feeding their clutch. I counted 7 trips in 15 minutes by both parent. When I hang the laundry on the line which is tied to the tree their box is on, the babies chirp and peep hoping it is mom or dad with their next meal.

I’m hoping they are a pair and the one in the ivy is the male. He’ll feed her through the night as she incubates the eggs. I may try to scope them out tonight since it is supposed to be clear and try to watch the action. Will keep you all posted. Stay tuned. Please comment so I know someone is reading this.

Skunk cabbage Symplocarpus foetidus is blooming along the stream. It has such a high metabolic rate, it actually melts the snow and ice around itself. No need for that today.
While on a walk with a group of preschoolers this morning, a honey bee was out looking for early bloomers. I don’t think she found any, but I sure enjoyed seeing her out.
I hope you got out to enjoy and smell the day. I know it won’t last. They’re calling for snow on Saturday, but it is a nice tease knowing nature still remembers how to be warm.

I don’t have an elaborate feeding system; just two sunflower seed feeders, a thistle feeder, which remains neglected for some reason and a suet feeder. I also have a heated bird bath that up until recently seemed only attractive to the 6 squirrels that share my yard as their territory. I guess, now that every puddle or water collection is frozen, the birds finally have shown interest in my offering.

On a recent glance, I noticed the feeders were suspiciously empty for several minutes. It was a cold day. If we were experiencing a warm day, I’d understand as many birds take advantage of insect hatches that occur when we have warm spells, but this was a cold day. I suspected my neighbor’s cat who seems to delight in stalking our backyard for easy pickings.

I went outside with the intention of chasing this cat out of my yard, but was surprised and admittedly pleased to find another predator.

Sharp-shinned hawk watching bird feeder

An adult (red eyes and horizontal streaking on his breast), Sharp-shinned Hawk, was sitting on the fence that is shared with my cat neighbor.

Sharp-shinned hawks are bird specialists, often catching feathered friends on the wing and eating them. They frequently hunt backyard bird feeding stations for easy prey, not unlike my neighbor’s cat. This is one predator I don’t mind sharing my yard with. Birds are birds. Well, not really, my hackles still go up when the starlings devour the suet, but that’s a different story.

I was so excited to hear such a primal nature sound in the middle of the suburbs. These owls mate in January, so this male was out looking for love. I’m going to try to find his roost site this afternoon.

Though owls are nocturnal (come out mainly at night), I find it easiest to spot them in the day time. I look for wash (bird poop) at the base and on the branches of evergreen trees. I also look for their pellets. If I find pellets, the owl is often sitting up in the tree close to the trunk.

Pellets are the undigested remains of the birds meal. A tightly packed ball of fur, bones, feathers and feet. If you pull it apart, you can determine what the owl ate, and therefore know what other animals share your world.