63 ~ Some fine farewells to February
There is still some wonder left in this winter. First, sugaring season is here! (at least methinks and me-hopes). This morning, on this last day of February, with today’s forecast to be well above freezing and sunny, I tapped the first maple of 2022, accompanied by the first robin song of the year.
Moments later, I got in the Prius to drive to my local café, where I write this now in alliance with a cuppa, and saw that the bald eagle is incubating on the nest! Houston, the eagle has laid. Just her resolute white head shows above the rim of the massive nest.
And on Saturday I had a nice late February sighting, during a long walk through the woods here. I saw a bird I’ve had in the hand hundreds of times (during my raptor banding work), but had never before seen in the wild:
Saw-whet Owl (the world’s cutest adult bird). Saw-whets winter down our way, and rank amongst the birds that have the highest disparity between being common, but rarely seen. A few things contribute to this: They are very small (smallest owl of eastern North America), and they are both strictly nocturnal and birds of the forest, and so never expose themselves to easy sighting in the open like other interesting, winter owls, such as Snowies and Hawk Owls. In fact, Saw-whets are probably more common here in winter than Kestrels, yet it’s Kestrels I see, often multiples, nearly every day when driving this time of year. Finally, “Lumpies” (banders’ nickname for Saw-whets) are tame and confiding - you can walk right under one, hidden in its daytime roost ten feet above your head, and it won’t flush and give away its presence. Although this is the first Lumpy I’ve ever seen in the wild, I’ll bet dozens, maybe hundreds, have seen me.
Of course, with spring approaching, bears arouse from their dens and start devouring things. Sometimes they bite off more than they can chew, and choke on it…
A reminder that if you’d like to learn more about the history of maple syrup and how to make it, please join my afternoon workshop here at the farmhouse on Saturday, March 12. You can register through Folklore Village, here.
PS: At the suggestion of a reader, these will give you a better idea of how small a Saw-whet is (from the banding station):
photo by Greg McCune