Spring time. We have buttercups blooming again; they first showed their sunny little yellow faces on the Equinox. Appropriate! More flowers will be coming soon. Hummingbirds are a month away now. We can hardly wait to see their little faces buzzing around feeders.
We saw the 100th bird species on our property a couple of days ago.
A Great Gray Owl. To say we were blown away by this event is an understatement. These owls have a special place in our hearts, last seen in Alaska many years ago.
This species is extremely rare for our county, five sightings have been recorded. This bird species is so tame; it allowed us to take many pictures, showing us multiple sides of its face. It’s hard to judge scale but the size ranges from two to three feet long; this bird appeared to be on the smaller side of the scale but again, hard to tell.
Chickadees and nuthatches were flying up close and personal into the owls’ face; we could almost imagine the bird conversation, going something like this: Chickadee/nuthatch, ” OMG Who are you? What are you? When did you get here?” Owl, doing a W.C.Fields imitation, “Go ‘way, kid, ya’ bother me.”
Dan was listening to the calls for these birds on his computer, and got this face from Mishkin:
Big eyes. Of course, he has this look on his face frequently around here. There's always something cool to stare at.
Evidently certain calls from predators are hard-wired into cat brains. He ran upstairs and had to think about it for a bit before venturing back down to the living room.
We added a channel to Kitty TV this past week. The Popcorn Channel. There were multiple shows available for Mish’s viewing pleasure.
This was the Clark's Nutcracker show. Also featured were the Jays Hour, Squirrel Comedy Central, and Chipmonk Review.
Snowshoe Hares are turning from snow white to mottled brown, and Mish is beside himself with joy whenever they show their faces in the yard next to the windows. He is entranced, and spends much time admiring them from afar with delusions of grandeur in regards to the fun they could have running races in the yard.
A Ruffed Grouse making faces at Mishkin who was watching intently from the window next to Terry's cage.
A cat was not sufficiently intimidating to a hungry grouse, and budding leaves on the Service Berry bush were yummy looking prey.
Munch munch munch. Yummmmmmmmm Spring!
Dan has been hearing a Dusky Grouse calling near the house, and we’ve seen a hen running in the yard off and on. They have a neat call, similar to rubbing your thumb on a fully inflated balloon. One has to wonder how that evolved as a way to attract females.
We still have smiling faces from our owl visitor. That memory isn’t going to get old any time soon.