Life has had me booked for the last year and my dear little website fell to the wayside. This year I hope to take more pictures and make more entries.

Birdsong started back up a few weeks ago, and today I returned to my usual daily walks. A sandhill crane flew over me- A bird often heard but not seen.

I went on a walk around my usual places and felt a feeling I haven’t felt in a long time, and it isn’t something I can describe, but if I try to: A memory of an atmospheric sensation i would experience as a child. It was overcast but bright out, cold but not nippy, windy but gentle, the trees are not full autumn but are orange enough to paint a picture. And it made me remember that I can always have old feelings again, and that there was no “last autumn that I felt something”

spoils of my latest bike ride thru the prairie:

THREE monarchs

squirrel

a chipmunk (did not care about me)

ONE purple Finch (theyre more red than purple. Dipped in sauce)

many many cabbage butterflies (maybe 12?)

3 cloudless sulphurs (i think)

a spicebush swallowtail that almost flew under the wheel of my bike (EY IM BIKIN HERE)

funny tall plants I cannot identify

a SINGLE small white morning glory

Also yesterday, along a cornfield (but not my usual cornfield,) I ran into a small bunny that could not figure out how to run away from me. It ran alongside me until it realized it needed to cross the path or go back into the corn (went into the corn. Good work!)

It's nice out.

I've seen a sentiment before about how every now and again we must experience something much larger than we are. The weather had been nasty and I couldn't be by the lake for a while, causing me to be consumed with ennui. Being back, I feel better. I love this lake.

The gap between updates is long as I've been pretty busy. Between then and Now I did witness, FINALLY, a red winged blackbird! It only took driving 5 hours away and looking out the car window at an opportune time.

Redwings are great... I believe it to be a grackle (awesome, also icteridae) and then I see the flash of red- it's more than a grackle.

Other than this I've mostly been seeing the same old creatures- Squirrels are squirrels no matter where you go, They just look kind of weird. I picked up a pill bug on a walk. Right now I'm living with some creatures from the rat dimension, here's Twinky:

Yesterday I spotted a new baby squirrel with a peculiar posture- It's tail was down low along the ground like a rats tail. I'm guessing it was either born like that or had some kind of accident... since it couldn't hold it's tail high like normal squirrels, it was soaking wet from the recent rain.

It was trying very hard to get onto the feeder, which is a simple task for other local squirrels (just shimmy up the pole) but it again either didn't know to do this or it was too rainy to manage. I watched the baby squirrel jump onto my windows and fall down over and over...

Eventually a second baby squirrel showed up and I think showed the rat-tailed squirrel how to get food from beneath the feeder. Maybe these squirrels are siblings? I don't know how many babies a squirrel usually has or if family members actually act nicely with eachother. Something to look up later.

I was pretty convinced that this one wasn't going to make it very long, so I'm happy to see it again today- This time in the feeder! They figured it out!

Keep showing up and I'll have to give you a name...

Today I woke up late, but I saw a crow in my back yard. I always hear them, or see them flying in the distance, but it's been years since one has been so close to me.

I am extremely endeared to crows, as most people should be, so this made me smile. A very big smile, for a reasonably large bird.

FIRST BUMBLEBEE OF THE YEAR!!!!!!

I've been biking more as the weather permits it. It was chilly, but I spent some time on a bench by the lake and counted the gulls that laze on the little pier. There were 36 of them.

A grackle flew down by the shore, which was something unusual and new to me, so I got up to get a better look. I watched it fly back to the trees in the park, now carrying a small fish in it's beak! I really don't witness a successful bird very often, so it was a treat for both of us.

I would've stayed longer, but all of the seagulls took flight at once to go fish themselves, and that reminded me that it was lunch time and I aughta get home.

I saw TWO hummingbirds and a NORTHERN ORIOLE!!! ORANGE!!!!!

AND! A Red Breasted Grossbeak! Which is supposedly rare, but I saw two of them, so I've either been misled or my feeder is extremely lucky lucky today

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHUHUUHOOOUHOGEUHGOS(H#7476598327658732658

BABY SQUIRREL VERY ORANGE VERY SMALL SO SO SO VERY SMALL

I've named them Tails and I hope they live in my yard!!!

Please please compare them to Big Mom sitting on the same feeder in posts below. This animal is so tiny.

Juncos are still here… like, okay. Fair. It still snows in the mornings, it only finally hit 50 degrees yesterday and it's back to 35 again… but you’re a winter bird you weirdo it's April

I saw a red tailed hawk silhouette high in the sky a few days ago but I failed to write down anything, so I'm not sure which day that was.

Today on my morning walk I saw:

2 lovely sandhill cranes flying and clacking away. I’ve been hearing them for a while but this is my first sighting in my neighborhood this year. Listen to them... their beautiful song..

Bluejay high up in the tree, being quiet while two grackles did their “danger below” sounds at me.

another bunny :)

I heard lots of redwings but still havent seen one. Where are you hiding. I love you. Show yourself.

GOLDFINCH TODAY

FINALLY HERE

YELLOW!

Juncos are also STILL HERE for some reason

NEW! From MY YARD

This bunny

FINALLY: PURPLE FINCH ON MY FEEDER among the chickadees and late-staying juncos.

I tried to get a photo but it was gone by the time I grabbed my camera... I think my nature journaling will be woefully lacking in photos.

They’re called purple finches but they’re more like a raspberry stained brown. Just as lovely!

Next to the highlighter yellow finches (goldfinches) they’re my favorite small bird that manifests in my feeder.

A squirrel the size of a truck just walked up as I was writing this. This thing is a football. Holy moly. Oh my god it's so soft looking- SOMEONE still has their winter coat (good for you! it's so damn cold!)

Good Lord why did I put my camera away. hang on. hang on.

Look at that... Big Mom. Has that leg fluff that makes a little skirt... You're everything...

Breaking news behind us, I also saw a Downy Woodpecker earlier, enjoying some suet!

I've been hearing lots of Redwing Blackbirds (My dearest, most favorite birds in the world.) But I have yet to see one with my eyes.

As an aside, While I've already chronicled that I’ve seen a mourning dove, I'd like to archive in writing the fact that a few days ago a mourning dove was sitting in the (full of seeds) feeder and doing nothing for minutes on end. It was just enjoying the spot. After a while it pecked at some seeds, but ultimately continued it’s lounging.

O decadent beast…

A mourning dove in my field of view at the feeder with a robin, the second robin i’ve seen this year, but in my ears on my walk were sandpipers and the killdeer. There was a cat in the thawing fields that whipped Pirate into a frenzy by existing.

It had strangely small ears and is a detriment to the previously mentioned birds, but I do enjoy a cat.

I just parted the curtain to see what assortment of small birds were at the feeder, but instead was a very shiny grackle. Welcome back.

I began this digital journal on March 21st, a little chronicle of the wildlife waking from winter onward, just as a human activity to have.

I really love the natural world, though I'm far from an expert.

What animals live near you?

Have you ever watched them come and go?

Maybe, do you like the plants more than the animals?

Even the sky can be a wonderful thing to write about.

Take care of yourself. Thanks for reading.