Wonderful

It rained yesterday, which sped up the snowmelt. Sure, there are still deep drifts, and shallower fall lies in lots of places still, but huge swaths of grass are now visible, and this morning they were covered in birds. Robins in dozens and dozens, sparrows and juncos and finches mixed in, even a few grackles (and of course starlings) hunting. I heard the redwing but didn't see him, and a few mockingbirds flew past. There was a drake mallard on the no-longer-ice-covered pond, quacking away, and several pairs of mourning doves.

And - because I'm going to my other office this afternoon and don't have any electronics with me, no camera, not even a cell phone - there were two magnificent hawks on the dead tree, the one that usually has nothing more exciting than a redwing or a sapsucker on it. They sat there quietly as I walked up, and then one of them launched into the air and soared away toward the river half a mile off. The other stayed where she was (she was much larger than the one who flew off) as I walked under her tree, looking at her and grinning like an idiot. She moved her head to look back at me, but clearly I didn't mean much if anything to her and she went back to watching the trees around her. She was still there when I had to head across the road to get to work. Man, were they beautiful!

I hope they come back when I have my camera with me.