Thursday January 28, 2021

Dave Bonta January 28, 2021

Bitter cold. Clouds hide the sunrise, but the crows still herald it. The squirrels appear to be staying in their nests.

A fresh dusting of snow slowly vanishes—but if the sun has a tongue, the breeze has a bite. The methodical taptaptap of a downy woodpecker. …

Cold air, bright sun. A song sparrow in the barberry bush sings continuously for nearly a minute—manic in a way I've never heard before. …

Bright sun on bare trees, whose discarded leaves still glow. Squirrels scold on and on. Finally a hawk-shaped shadow detaches from an oak. …

Sun gleams on the rain-damp leaf duff. In the blue sky, a grackle cackles. Blue jays jeer. The lilac limbs are beginning to blush green. …

Two crows chasing a third from their territory stop in the woods above the house, the sun glistening on their glossy backs and wings. …

Early morning sounds like spring, with cardinals, titmice and song sparrows tuning up. A rabbit stands on its hind legs to reach lilac buds. …

The Morning Porch is on hiatus until March 6. Feel free to leave your own front-porch observations in the comments. …

After all-night rain, snow cover persists in the woods, but it must be thin. The trees loom and fade as the fog shifts. The stream roars. …

A cacophony of crows, doves, cardinal, titmouse, nuthatch, woodpecker, squirrel, locomotive, all amid the silent carpet-bombing of the snow. …

The local geese seem restless, flying from valley to valley as if trying to remember how to migrate. Four juncos in the road gathering grit. …

Keening moans from the hole in the big walnut tree. Then snarls: a squirrel rockets out, falls to a lower limb. The moans grow louder. …