Spring is here!
No, the loon is not holding hands with the swallow.
By the time we got to Port Wing, my eyes were really tired, and then I fell asleep watching TV with my mother-in-law. When I woke up, Photon and I headed down the driveway, but for the first time ever on a nice, fairly calm April evening, we had zero woodcock. There were Spring Peepers, Chorus Frogs, and Wood Frogs calling, which is always lovely, but it seemed weird to not pick out a single woodcock where usually I have at least three or four. I can hear four Ruffed Grouse within a half mile or so of her house--that's good news, at least.
This morning, I headed out for a bit of birding at the Port Wing sewage ponds before I headed back. A pair of Bald Eagles is apparently nesting somewhere near--they flew over my mother-in-law and me, and then (I think it was the same pair) were perched in a big dead tree at the end of Kinney Valley Road, but they took off before I could snap a photo. It was cold--there was ice on the stream that crosses Kinney Valley Road--but the sun felt lovely and something about Tree Swallows chittering fills me with joy and restores my soul.
