It has looked like the birds know warmer weather is coming, and coming a little early. The junco's are disappearing.  The Starlings are starting to edge in, though I shoo them when I see them.

Yesterday the warmer weather did come, in a big way.  We broke the record high for that day.  67F!  woohoo!  Today they say it may be near 70.  Then the winds will come and we will cool off, but only to the mid 40's.  that's not bad for February!  I'll take it.

There's still a little snow and ice on the ground. My daffodils are pushing up through a cover of ice.

Since late December we've been getting spectacular sunrises.  Unfortunately I see these on my way home from work, always on a road that has no place to stop and pull over.  And sunrises wait for no one!  I recently saw what looked like the perfect sunrise. It was a Sunday morning so little traffic on the road, and none on the back road home I was on. I stopped and took 4 or 5 photos. Saw a few as they were saved but wanted to capture what I could before the moment was gone.  I drove on and when I could pull over off a road I did so I could admire my photos. Except there weren't any.  All I got was an error message.  File format unrecognized.  I was soooo disappointed. So I had to try again a couple days later. Not quite as good as what I saw but at least I got something that reflects how pretty even the coldest mornings had been this winter.  

Least I get too far ahead of myself, I don't want to forget just how cold and blustery it had gotten. I don't want to take the warmer weather for granted!

The Carolina wren loves loves loves the peanut butter. So does the Mockingbird, who has stayed on good behavior and they seem to share between this and the peanut seed bell, trading places when the Mockingbird decides.  I suppose since there is only one Mockingbird it hasn't tried taking over the whole yard.  This is good!  it still hasn't gotten used to me, again I contribute that to it being a single bird and not having ... any 'backup'? 

I think anyone that saw me in my home, trying to stalk the birds at the feeders to both observe and take photos, would laugh.  It looks a little silly to be sneaking around the windows in my own home, trying not to be noticed. Trying many different ways to get the camera into a good position without them noticing.  But to them the camera is an eye and it freaks them out, or if they see me looking.  Again it's the eyes.

I've noticed many times if I avert my eyes or turn my back to birds, they aren't as quick to fly off. Outside it doesn' seem to bother the ducks as much, but from inside the house, that's a different story! They easily notice and react when I'm watching from inside the house...when they see movement,  they cock their head sideways and look as though they are wondering if they really saw something or not, then they begin to do a little sidestep, ready to take off in a moments notice.   

 Aren't the female mallards tails pretty?

One morning I was out chasing fire trucks to take photos.  In the middle of the shoot, I'd gotten back in my car to move to another street.  To my left I happened to see a song sparrow and took it's photo.  I posted the fire pics, my friends had something to say about the bird photo smack in the middle of the fire photos.  Not that it surprised them they said, but still they felt compelled to comment.  As if..only I would do that.  hehe

The other thing I noticed was the flocks of Starlings in the area of the fire.  Loud noisy flocks of them.  I've been so fortunate that they haven't been congregating in my yard! But when I home later and in the house only a few minutes, I heard quite the commotion outside. I knew without looking what it was.  A flock of starlings all around my feeder station!  ARGH!!! Did they FOLLOW ME!!??  One loud noise and they were startled away.  The next day was extremely cold and I saw one almost sad looking starling sitting out there all alone.  I still shooed him away. Now there's one or two that are persistently trying to come around.  Every few days there's a small flock of house sparrows too.  But they aren't constant.  They'd rarely been to the yard this winter (yeah!!)  Then again most birds have not been following their usual habit in my yard.

This pic is from about 2 weeks ago.  Couldn't help but notice that bright yellow color coming back in already.  I was convinced the birds agreed with Punxatawny Phil's rare prediction of an earlier Spring.

Look ma! bare ground!

I've had a blue heron visiting almost daily for a couple weeks.  It surprised me when he showed up when there was still so much ice on the water.  Or maybe more surprised when he came back the next day.  Again I often forget to look before going in or out and startle him every time!  Usually he flies off, but yesterday he merely stalked off down the stream.  Oddly the ducks followed it, walking across the yard like a flock of curious schoolkids. 

One last thing, I saw a bald eagle the other day when I was driving across the south bridge, over the Susquehanna River. Amazing in my lifetime, the bald eagle went from endangered for extinction in 1967, to merely threatened in 1995, and in 2007 was totally delisted.  though that was pushed for a lawsuit when a guy couldn't develop his lakefront property because of the laws in place that wouldn't allow building within 330 ft radius of their nesting site.  (boohoo) Yes that is sarcasm.  Anyhow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service maintains protectionist policies so the current population doesn't plummet.

Time to get away from the computer, they say it may be 70 degrees today!