Bright sunshine and the first afternoon above freezing in almost a week enticed me outside today, Snow still covers most of the farm but the intense sun has cleared the driveway; indeed, a quartet of Canada geese waddled up the drive to join me, stopping along the way to inspect open patches of grass and to scour the feeding area.
Most of our other winter residents also provided company, including a Townsend's solitaire and a trio of lesser goldfinches. The hysterical calls of northern flickers echoed through the neighborhood and hormone-fueled fox squirrels chased one another through the treetops.
But the most welcome sighting was of a black-billed magpie, flying above our property with a small branch in his beak. Among the earliest birds to nest, these conspicuous corvids construct a bulky nest of sticks, up to three feet in diameter. Of interest, the male is primarily responsible for gathering sticks while the female concentrates on the interior decorating, using mud and soft vegetation for the central cup (duties that may resonate with human couples).
