Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Sunrise - March 14

 

First birds are back.  At least the first one's I noticed  -and I was a little surprised at which ones they were. I've been listening and watching for the first red-winged blackbird or sand-hill crane.   Expected one of them would be the 'early bird.'   The male harrier (he's mostly white w/ black wing tips) came last week and this week I see the female is back now too. (She's more brown.)  They don't go that far south - just far enough to get out of the snow.  In the winter their favorite prey of voles and mice tunnel under the snow so the harrier's hunting technique isn't effective.  Snow's gone now and the little vermin of the meadow are easy game.  Super glad to have the harrier's around to keep everything in balance.

1 comment:

Rachel Angel said...

Early in the morning I stood on my deck overlooking the woods. I could hear owls to my right, doves to my left, turkeys and cranes somewhere in front of me and cardinals above me.