With 8-10 inches of new snow to melt, I’m missing the bears. I know of six being seen some 2½ miles away but none right around here. Here it’s foxes and raccoons, plus red squirrels and birds. With the birds it’s exciting to get first-of-the-year views, like the white-throated sparrow that was visible for only a moment but long enough to let me see its white throat and pretty face.
Turkey vultures
Then there was the hour when five turkey vultures gathered outside my window to sit looking at me. But not one to get carried away with ominous thoughts, I figured it once again was because 51 gregarious crows covered the yard like there might be food. I also wondered if the attractant might be the 17.5 pounds of beef fat that was on the second floor deck for whoever wanted it. But the vultures eventually took wing without joining anyone for lunch.
 Dark-eyed Junco |
 Crows |
Dark-eyed juncos are still here in number, making me wonder if so many are hanging around this area because of the late spring from here north. Ducks and loons are stacked up to the south waiting for lakes to open around here and northward, although I don’t know how they would know. Many mysteries.
Thank you for all you do,
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center