Life continues
 

Put up the swallow houses today...just a spirit lifting delight to see the tree swallows checking them out. Their chirps music to our ears.

Welcome back little friends...we missed you!

Are they CA swallows or South American swallows?

I love your optimism. We have been watching the Goldfinches get brighter yellow every day. The grass seems to get greener by the hour. Living in a 4 season world reminds us of the vibrancy of life 8 times a year.
Speaking of swallows, and I don't mean to get religious here, because this is not PARF, I am reminded of an old spiritual with the uplifting words. "The faith that I follow better have chicks that swallow ..."

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You tell me...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_swallow

(edit) Yep, that Barry Martin song was also spirit lifting...;)

Yep. Spring is on the way. I can tell by the squished skunks in the middle of the road stinkin' to high heaven.

Swallows are some of the most amazing fliers. They can instantly execute one 90° turn after another while on the wing. Once in a while I'll go over to a large open greenspace near the house just to watch their aerobatics as they feed on all the flying insects there. If I stand real still, they'll eventually start coming closer and closer to check me out, sometimes flying directly at my head only to execute an impossibly sharp turn just a few feet in front of me and dart away.

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Put the Mason bees out and my wife planted her starts in the greenhouse. Cleaned the gutters and moss treated the lawn. Leather conditioned one of the pack.

Spent 3 hours single track mtn biking with the hound.

We have one of those cheap sheet metal sculptures outside a window. These little guys come back every spring. They're about two inches long and build/refurbish a nest inside the sculpture and are currently at work. Don't know what kind they are, but they're noisy little things. Their chicks are too when they're being raised and the parents are flying back and forth getting them food. We never see the chicks. I don't know how the parents train them to fly.

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Nice thread guys!

It is profound to see nature trucking along just fine while our lives are on hold. We could all be gone and the show would go on just fine. If anything, it is more quiet and less polluted than just a week ago. It has been a bit eerie but also enjoyable to be in nature right now.

Regarding migratory birds - I am fascinated by their ability to navigate. I think we still don't know how exactly they do it.

Just recently I borrowed a couple barn pigeons from a friend to train my pointing dog. I took them 25+ miles to my house and released them as part of the dog training exercise. They were home with my friend the next morning. It is fascinating. People say they have an ability to sense magnetic north, but you still need a map on top of a compass if you have been blindfolded and hauled away in a random direction!

Cheers,

George

Even through all of this virus B.S., nature perseveres, and will much longer than we do.

It truly is spirit lifting to step out my back door, and hear robins busily nesting, and birds of prey screeching. On quiet days, I can hear the woodpeckers looking for breakfast, and occasionally hear an owl after dark....my favorite part of rural living.

BTW do you know what is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

We have bluebirds nesting in a bluebird house we put up.

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Just to take this to its logical conclusion ????

I have noticed a significant increase in the number of birds around our place. Some that you don't see often, many titmice, and wrens. The Robins (this is the only place I have lived in CA that I have seen robins) have not yet shown up and yes many Swallows, who seem to be here in great numbers for so early in the season. Love it.