Towheeblog

Feb. 21, 1855  “I realize what was incredible to me before—that there is a new life in Nature beginning to awake, that her halls are being swept and prepared for a new occupant.  It is whispered through all the aisles of the forest that another spring is approaching.  The wood mouse listens at the mouth of his burrow—and the chickadee passes the news along.”                      —Journal, Henry David Thoreau

Humans are not the only species that seems to be driven to war without end.  We had two Yellow-rumped Warblers in our garden today.  The Audubon’s has been around for weeks.  Auddie, as I call him, is often pushing around smaller birds: nuthatch, chickadees, juncos.  Today Auddie went after the Myrtle Warbler, his yellow head stripe flashing  brightly.  In our garden are several feeders over an area more than twenty feet in diameter, yet Auddie feels compelled to drive off any competitor he can bully.  Sound familiar?

Here we see Auddie basking in his suzerainty over his realm of feeders:

Here is suet block, House Sparrow feeding while Myrtle Warbler approaches from the left.
FEBRUARY, FEATHERS AND FLORA
This week I have found several new blooming bloomers: our crocus are showing color as is our forsythia.  Myrtle ground cover displays a few deep blue flowers.  Hellebore and primroses love the winter. And one neighbor’s bold plum is plum crazy, blooming during these snowy days:

The Acorn Woodpecker was at Wennerberg Park.  The ducks were all at No Name Pond, along with the kingfisher male and the cormorant flying over.  Where was he going?  From Hagg Lake to the Willamette River  Ducks include mated pair of Hooded Mergansers, two female Bufflehead and a quartet of Ring-necks, two male and two female.  Its pairing time for migratory ducks so they will leave this spring, already courted and determined to nest ASAP when they get to breeding territory.
The shelf fungus is growing on the roots of a defunct birch that we had taken down before it felled our fence.  Natural recycling at work.