14 March, 2021 The flowers are finally bailing me out
The ospreys just started bailing me out too, but I didn’t find out about them until an hour ago. The light was nice and they’re active – extremely active – but they caught me by surprise and I didn’t have time for good photographs. Next week for sure.
Monday afternoon at lunch time I saw the first daffodil of 2021 in our yard. At least in central Virginia, few things are more synonymous with Spring than the first daffodils:
I’ll see bluebirds on my feeders tomorrow morning first thing – they must be building a nest close by. There is never a bad time to see a bluebird. But I am especially joyful when I’m hiking and I get to see one in the woods. I like the background:
More flowers bailing me out:
Most of my life – until early in my blogging “career” – I knew a lot about Red-tailed hawks and close to zero about other raptors. I think sometimes back then I’d see a Red-shouldered hawk – it’s an easy mistake if you’re not paying attention – and think it was a Red-tailed hawk. But once I became aware of their existence, I began seeing them constantly. I saw one this week but was unable to get good light. But I love their color:
I may as well continue with flowers bailing me out. First hyacinths from next to our driveway:
More daffodils? Is this too many? I think that “too many daffodils” is one of those imaginary concepts like “too much chocolate”:
Speaking of other things you can’t apply the idea of “too much” to, here’s a picture of Turner (brown), Mackey (black) and Yuki (none of the above) standing happily near the edge of the James River in Pony Pasture yesterday morning a bit before lunch:
Even after all these months – seventeen in a row now – I’m not sure what happens next with the Barred Owls I see in Pony Pasture. I think – I think – that soon they’ll become more active with parenting duties and spend less time lounging (probably digesting) on this branch. But I saw one yesterday on our hike. It was preening itself enthusiastically, a behavior I had not yet witnessed. Always fun to see them do something new:
What better way to end a blog post than with a Barred Owl! Have a great week, see you (hopefully!) next Sunday.
All best,
Jay
NEWFAZE 