Crocuses Flowering

[SweetMissDaisy]

Beautiful, Steve!!

 

[ninnymary]

I saw bluejays last week. But so far, no robins.

Mary

 

[digitS']

There was a robin in the backyard, yesterday. This time, I got a good look at him. I'm fairly sure he has been around all winter. I saw what I thought was a robin in the trees across the road in early November, again right after New Year's Day. Then about 10 days ago.

Wet and warm this morning ... This will raise the rivers rather than the mountain snow pack. The WS thermometers on the mountain nearest to me shows that the temperature hasn't dropped below freezing the last 72 hours.

This will be the warmest morning since October and we hit 59°f on Friday afternoon for the highest temperature since October. Wenatchee set a record on Saturday. I hope they don't have flooding. That location in central Washington State is about where the terrible fires have been the last two summers. This winter, their nearby mountains have had an abundance of snow.

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

I saw a large bird soaring overhead early this morning. I look carefully to see if the Turkey Vultures were back. Nope! I was shocked and excited to see a bald eagle checking out the neighbor's fields! That's the first eagle I've seen this close to my home. It was a special treat to me.

 

[Nyboy]

Nice Red I would love to see one near me

 

[ninnymary]

One time we were on a rowboat on a lake up by our cabin. Saw a bald eagle soar by with a fish in his mouth. It is a beautiful scene when you see one.

Mary

 

[digitS']

This will sound odd but there were no vultures here, 20 years ago, or 50 years ago. They showed up in the last 10 years ago, if that.

See the map for their range:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Turkey_Vulture/id

Notice how there is a gap in northern Idaho and western Montana? I asked Cornell to paint the map that way. No I didn't !

I know what vultures look like. I remember thinking when I was a kid that any hour of any summer day, I'd be able to look in some quarter of the sky and see a vulture circling. That was in southern Oregon. They were not here!

We have had Redtail hawks and Ferruginous hawks. I can't hardly believe that they kept the vultures away but, maybe. It was obvious that the Ferruginous feels pressure from housing developments. They always seemed to be out with 100's of acres of fields, sitting in a lone pine tree or on a power pole. Only recently have I seen them like along the railroads. The fields are disappearing, locally.

Exit the Ferruginous hawk, enter the Turkey Vulture - things change.

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

I believe turkey vultures were introduced (back?) to Wisconsin within the past 15-20 years or so. They were wanted to clean up road kill and prevent diseases that otherwise might start. Nature's soap!

Until then, many man-hours and much money was spent removing carcasses from the road and road sides. Now these wonderful (if rather ugly) birds take care of business.

Red-tails are the most common of the larger raptors around here. Occasionally a Cooper's hawk will stop by for a while during its migration, but they are more often seen in Northern Wisconsin. There are Harris's Hawks and the Ferruginous Hawk as well as several smaller varieties of the hawk family.

Still,the one I am most likely to see is the red-tail. We have a couple of red-tail families rearing their young nearby.

 

[Nyboy]

Red Tail here are almost as common as robins.

 

[so lucky]

The red tails here manage to scare my chickens pretty regularly. I don't think they could pick one up, but the chickens don't know that.