Spring nesting season approaches!

I'm pretending it is spring. I thought I heard Phoebe singing this morning, but I could be wrong.

They usually nest in the shed, in May Phoebe nesting 2018. Our nesting season is approaching. 

I went down and cleaned out the wood duck nesting boxes. You can see a shell remained in one pile of shavings. The mice have abandoned it.
I can expect wood ducks to nest at the end of April. Wood duck boxes 2018
JB went searching in town and found me a decent sized bag of wood shavings. He was having lunch in the city with a friend. I got out and puttered.


You can see the flaw in the design of this one. This is my oldest nesting box (#1 bought in 2014). I use pieces of bark to keep the wood shavings in the box. It is easier to clean out. Sadly, I managed to get covered in shavings, as I was both down wind and under the box reaching up to clean it.

The pond is quite frozen. I walked across it to get to the boxes.


This is box #2, put up in 2015. It has a lip, which holds in the shavings.


I thought I should do this now, before the pond melts, as I can reach the box standing on the ice.


Box #3 was duly cleaned out and refilled. Daisy liked this one! She helped me mount it on the tree.
This is the nesting box I had repaired, as it developed a crack in the front. This dates 2018.

Down in the forest, you can see how deep the snow remains. On the warm days, the deer sink up to their knee balls.


Annabelle sits on the bench, on the deck, in the sun.


Our mason bee house is occupied. Soon they will emerge. Most of them are wasps, though!


There is much snow on the shady middle deck. There are little raccoon tracks in the snow.

Later that afternoon, I read my book on Annie's bench in the sunshine. Hooper sat in his warm little house.



Later that night, the raccoon with the bad leg came back with two friends. They were under the bird feeder. We'll cross our fingers for this one.