Birds and beasties

The birds are back. Some hang around all year, of course, but the spring birds are here, passing through on their migration or arriving for the summer. We have goldfinches, some starting now to get their yellow feathers. Purple house finches. Bluebirds. Robins. Pileated woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers.

And the bigger things -- sandhill cranes and turkeys in Jerry's field across the road.

No sign of our bear, though, so she/he may have moved on. On the other hand, last night when Tom went out for a short walk after dinner, he caught sight of a long-tailed weasel, still mostly in its winter white (ermine) coat, but starting to blotch into its more tawny fur. We have not seen it before, but Tom said that it ran into a large brush pile off to one side of the drive. We will keep an eye out for it. He tried to get a photo, but it kept running in and out of the brush and he never got a shot.

Here are two bird-related items. The first is a nesting ball, a net filled with feathers, threads, bits of grass and yarn, all items for birds to take and tuck into their nests as they build them. Peggy got me to do one last year, but all I put in that one was dryer lint, one of the recommended fillers. Of course, it immediately rained and the nesting ball became a soggy mess. This one has more staying power and has already survived some precipitation. When the colorful bits are woven into nests, it makes the nests more visible and they remain a spot of color when the birds and the leaves go for winter. I assembled it from materials provided at the craft day at the library last Saturday.

The other item is a small birdhouse that I built from a kit. A child's kit for ages six and up. I thought that would be about right for my skill set.

The sun was shining bright at midday when I took these pictures, which makes it look like we still have snow on the ground. That is not the case. No green grass or leaves yet, but the ground is covered with brown leaves and grass. No snow, I am happy to say!