Good morning to everyone on this fine day! It is actually quite nice with a temp of 32F (0C) which means the snow is still soft and melting a bit. That will change. It is going to get cold this weekend which will freeze our snow solid. At this rate it will be the end of April before the snow is gone. And those cold temps could make it very icy walking down to the river. Oh well. Theodora was here this morning so I got a new picture of her sitting on my bird feeder. I still think it is fantastic having such a big bird on my feeder, looks funny to see it.

So I had a talk with her and asked how the winter went. Gerbil, gerbil. “Yes, there was a lot of snow and cold this year.” Thwip, thwip. “Yes, it would be hard to keep those long legs warm.” Thwip? “No, I’m not saying your legs are too long, they are very nice.” Gerbil, gerbil. “Oh, you like being able to get out and walk around more, I can understand that. By the way, there is a hawk around now, so be careful.” Thwip, thwip. “Yes, it might go after you, it is a big hawk and it might be hungry after migrating back from the south.”

Gerbil, gerbil. “Yes, you are big too, but don’t try to fight that hawk.” Thwip, thwip. “You are welcome, come back anytime.” And off she flies. Yesterday afternoon all the birds suddenly disappeared, except the chickadees and nuthatches, they remained motionless in the bushes. So I started looking for a hawk. I knew it could not be the shrike now, it would have gone north already. I finally spotted the hawk near the top of a tall black ash. It was a red-tailed hawk.

It flew right after I spotted it so no time to get a picture. Hmm, too bad. Only the chickadees and nuthatches are here right now, not sure where all the other birds went. When I put seeds on the main feeder this morning, which was quite early but getting daylight, a female pine grosbeak came down to the feeder before I left, so I talked to her for a bit. She certainly is not afraid. She comes early and stays longer than the evening grosbeaks so she can get some food.

Evening grosbeaks are more aggressive than the pine so they keep chasing her off the feeder. But she has learned, and this way she gets to eat in peace. All the other pine grosbeaks have gone north already. Not a bird out there now, just when I was going to try for some pictures. Oh well, maybe I will try for some more coffee instead. Thank you for stopping by, have a great day and God bless!

Steve and Muffin. (Praying for the people of Ukraine)

©2022 Steve McLeod.