Nature

[Thumper]

With my feeders and suet, I have downeys, haireys, red bellies, as well as both nuthatches year round. We hear the pileated more than we see them, but we have had sightings. And I have had a couple yellow bellied sapsucker sightings through the years.

Ive seen several herons while traveling. And the turkey buzzards are here year round. You're right about a delayed spring. I see no signs of budding on the trees. That's an advantage as I can still trim back a huge bush close to the house this weekend without risk of messing with its budding and flowering this spring. The grass looks ready to start growing but it's so wet I can't get out on it to clear all the downed wood. There is quite literally over a thousand pounds of downed wood sitting on mud where I usually mow. My service on the mower should be done this weekend. But it still needs to go to the shop for a wheel motor rebuild.

Aahhh spring.

[geonuc]

The deer have returned to the neighborhood. Not sure where they hang out when we're in the middle of snow events. There are plenty of forested areas nearby.

When I drive by the local golf course - which is buried in snow - I think about all the marmots that have huddled in their rock burrows since late summer.

[Thumper]

I startled two sets of deer last night. I think they were a little anxious because they probably knew about upcoming storm. They were impatient when I came out to the usual spot to drop off some corn and skittered away. When I went to the back to do the same, there was small herd there that I kicked up. Sorry guys, but the corn doesn't dump itself...
I think I like Marmots better than ground hogs. Hopefully marmots don't dig under your foundations.

[geonuc]

Our marmots prefer golf courses.

[Thumper]

Works for me.

[Rommie]

We have a group of finishing PhD students who's formed a writing club two days a week to work on our respective theses, and yesterday a girl interrupted us in the afternoon with an "oh my god, a bird!" You could hear one singing- it's been a few months!

Bf also texted me yesterday with an "oh my god, liquid snow!" and it took me a second to realize he meant it was raining outside. Still got a lot of snow everywhere, enough that we are going skiing tomorrow a few hours north, so winter is slow to release its grip but we are getting there, slowly...

[Thumper]

Happens almost every year.

[SciFiFisher]

We get humming birds in our backyard occasionally. When Brite hangs the nector bottles we get them more frequently.

[Thumper]

That makes alot of sense.

[Thumper]

The Mother in Law told me she's been hearing Peepers for the last two weeks. I thought I heard one last week when it was warm. Then it got cold. I heard one again last night as it was plenty warm. Also, when I get out of the car at work in the mornings, the Robins are singing their morning song. It makes getting to work a little more pleasant. The moles are out in full force.

[Thumper]

Significant spring peeper activity the last couple evenings.

[Thumper]

Starting to hear the toads in the late afternoons before sunset. Still looking for my first bluebird. I was hoping to see one on my property as I have a mealworm bluebird feeder. But I know they also hang out in this grove of trees down the road overlooking a large cow pasture. Monday night we saw 16 buzzards way high up circling over us as we walked our road. Oh and a coworker and I saw a loan hen turkey in a pasture as we were heading to a jobsite down in southern Ohio.

[SciFiFisher]

Starting to hear the toads in the late afternoons before sunset. Still looking for my first bluebird. I was hoping to see one on my property as I have a mealworm bluebird feeder. But I know they also hang out in this grove of trees down the road overlooking a large cow pasture. Monday night we saw 16 buzzards way high up circling over us as we walked our road. Oh and a coworker and I saw a loan hen turkey in a pasture as we were heading to a jobsite down in southern Ohio.

Did you figure out who borrowed her?

[Thumper]

Doh!

[geonuc]

I think I saw a marmot poking its head out from some wood in our alley a couple of days ago, not since. Do marmots do the groundhog thing and check out the weather before coming out of hibernation?

If it is a marmot, that would be cool.

[Thumper]

I like marmots better than ground hogs. Not sure why. Maybe because we don't have marmots in Ohio and they don't dig under my foundations or tear up my yard and destroy my buddies' farm fields.
We've got a picture of a cute one in California from our honeymoon at a scenic overlook. He's sitting under the sign quietly looking for handouts.

[geonuc]

I think the first time I encountered a marmot was in Glacier National Park along the famous Going to the Sun Road. At a wide spot with a viewpoint, there was a really fat marmot sitting in the parking lot with a herd of tourists around it taking photos. We reckoned the marmot was actually employed by the park service to amuse the visitors.

[Thumper]

Ha, sounds like a very similar experience to us.

[Thumper]

Missed a skunk by about 2 feet last week. I considered it a win for both of us. Earlier this morning, someone (and a skunk) weren't so lucky. The smell was so strong for a few minutes I thought the skunk was sitting in the passenger seat beside me. I considered it a win for nobody.

[grapes]

We were watching out the window, looking at the creek, after breadfast yesterday and Sabrina noticed a beaver in the water tugging at some branches. It stopped, swam upstream, dove under water, and continued swimming upstream. We haven't seen evidence of beaver activity in a couple years.

[geonuc]

While hiking along a particularly gorgeous stretch of one of the local rivers that has cut a deep gorge into the overlying lava, I watched five or six big raptors soaring the updrafts as a group. Amazing to watch - they're so graceful. Couldn't tell what kind of bird but they didn't have the prominent red tails of our local hawks. We do have eagles here.

[Thumper]

We were watching out the window, looking at the creek, after breadfast yesterday and Sabrina noticed a beaver in the water tugging at some branches. It stopped, swam upstream, dove under water, and continued swimming upstream. We haven't seen evidence of beaver activity in a couple years.

That's amazing.

[Thumper]

While hiking along a particularly gorgeous stretch of one of the local rivers that has cut a deep gorge into the overlying lava, I watched five or six big raptors soaring the updrafts as a group. Amazing to watch - they're so graceful. Couldn't tell what kind of bird but they didn't have the prominent red tails of our local hawks. We do have eagles here.

We have turkey buzzards circling overhead all the time. It does look so very graceful and fun. I'll often see a pair of red tail hawks doing the same thing. The Coopers hawks generally sit up high in the trees then come swooping down. We have Bald Eagles around but only see the rarely and not close to our property. We have noticed some Osprey lately, more activity than in the past.

[Thumper]

Lots of elk at the Grand Canyon. Lots and lots. Had hoped to see a marmot, fox, or bobcat, but no luck.

[Thumper]

My Peeper in the back yard apparently enjoys hard rain. He was peeping away this morning in the downpour.