Spring will be here in the blink of an eye.

[LuckyCharms]

I came across this old picture today. Every year, for probably the past 20 years, there is a nest in the motion light over my back deck. Either mourning doves or robins. Without fail. The birds like it there. I've had to reinstall different motion lights there over the years, but they still keep coming back to that spot.

They get used to the traffic in and out the door. The nest will be about 2 feet away from your head when you exit the door, and they won't flee.

Especially the mourning doves. They are very calm. It takes the robins a bit longer to settle from the foot traffic, but they eventually do. For the first few days, the mama robins will flee the nest and perch on the fence about 15 feet away, until you leave.

If it is not obvious from my posts...I love birds. With this particular nest, I sometimes get on a step stool and count the babies when the mother vacates the nest for a few minutes.

Related...there is a row of large pine trees across the street where I live. I was walking the dog among the trees, and there was a nest laying on the ground, filled with immature cedar waxwings. Something had gotten to the nest, and mama was deceased on the ground nearby.

I managed to find a wildlife rehabilitator about 20 miles away who accepted the babies. I took them there and called sometime later to check on them. I was told the babies made it and were freed.

Think Spring.

[Botany]

1. Tomorrow the length of day light will be 1 minute and 1 second longer than today. Thursday the day light

will be 1 minute and 6 seconds longer than today. The Great Horned Owls will start to be heard in late
January or early February.

Good job with the Cedar Wax Wings.

[LuckyCharms]

2. Before we got flooded in 2011...

There were many feral cats in the neighborhood. Springtime would be bedlam in our neighborhood, with many young birds being killed by the cats.

The cats disappeared after the flood. So did the rabbits, for many years. Now the rabbits have returned in full force.

I too count the minutes of daylight returning after the winter solstice.

[Botany]

4. I work with native plants and ecosystems and feral cats are just a hammer to our native pollinators,

song birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and mammals. The hunting instinct is so strong with cats
is just so strong. People feeding them in my neighborhood don’t help the problem. If people want
to adopt them great but the least they could do is catch them and have them fixed. Feral cats live
short and brutal lives with feline leukemia, fights, coyotes, owls, foxes, other critters, and cars.

Weather Underground’s home page for your area has a nice feature that tells you how much longer
each day is per day light.

[littlemissmartypants]

5. There used to be several feral cats roaming here at the farm...

Until the coyotes moved in. Now, coyotes cross the field in packs of three.

They walk so close together and with such synchronization that they appear as a single creature walking by from certain angles.

[LuckyCharms]

6. Ah I see it...

1 minute and 6 seconds longer.

Thanks for the Website! I've never seen this weather page. I've put it on my desktop screen.

[Botany]

7. Weather Underground is very good. It used to be better before it got popular.

But it beats most all tv weather talkers.

[Tesha]

3. Thank you!

A neighbor had a marauding cat, ate everything after terrorizing it.
We believe it ate a rodent that had been poisoned and it died an unhappy death.

Now birds or all sorts have returned including raptor and owls, and chipmunks, and rabbits - and neighbors are more aware about poisoning

[some_of_us_are_sane]

8. You've got a soft heart, my friend

Show me a man who loves and protects birds, and I'll show you a good man.

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

~Emily Dickinson

[LuckyCharms]

9. Thank you for saying that...

If it is indeed a soft heart I have though, it's a blessing and a curse.

It probably makes me a halfway decent person, or at least not a terrible person, but it takes me a long time to recover from emotional pain.

I do love the birds...and that's a lovely poem. Thank you.

[some_of_us_are_sane]

10. You feel

"BIGGER" "HARDER" than most, but the beauty transcends the rough parts.

I'd call that a blessing, friend.

[LuckyCharms]

11. Thank you, that's very kind.

[electric_blue68]

12. Good on you for the cedar waxwings, and enoying your bird near-your-door neighbors!

The sunset is now 16 mins longer than the earliest sunset here in the NYC area.
Ohhh, joy. 😑
OK, it's something. 😄

While it's controversial for some I love Day Light Savings Time!🥰

Birds are often pretty, and cool to watch.
I like animals in general whether pets, or wild.

[LuckyCharms]

13. One day at a time! Each day is...

a journey toward Spring!

I'm an animal lover too. All animals.

[electric_blue68]

14. Well, I have Winter S.A.D. so it gets to me more than some.

But 🌱*Spring* 🌱 is coming!

Eventually. 😑😄

[LuckyCharms]

16. March is when it hits me...

It's like...C'MON, HURRY UP ALREADY! I'VE HAD ENOUGH!

[electric_blue68]

15. If I blink faster, will it arrive sooner??!

😄 👍

[LuckyCharms]

17. Well try it!

It can't hurt!

[electric_blue68]

18. 👍 😄

[LuckyCharms]

19. I'm blinking too!

[electric_blue68]

20. This is the way! 😄

[LuckyCharms]

21. What did you say? My screen is fluttering because

I'm blinking so hard! I can't read so good!

[electric_blue68]

22. Slowthat blinking down for a min 👍

[LuckyCharms]

23. I CAN'T! I'M STUCK!

I THINK I NEED A DOCTOR! STAT!

[electric_blue68]

24. Uh oh! Maybe hit the Reset button!

[LuckyCharms]

25. I'M...I'M...

STARTING TO LEVITATE!!

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE????

[electric_blue68]

26. Well, now you have a New Superpower!

[LuckyCharms]

27. I'M FLYINGGGG!!!!!!!

[electric_blue68]

28. Go somewhere nice! 👍

[LuckyCharms]

29. Like where?

[electric_blue68]

30. Hawaii?! The Bahamas? 👍

[LuckyCharms]

31. Can I just fly to Burger King?

I'm new to flying...want to start off slow...

[electric_blue68]

32. Ah, a smart idea. Bit by bit!

[LuckyCharms]

33. Bite by bite...

through a Whopper with cheese!

[electric_blue68]

34. That, too!

🍔 👍

[LuckyCharms]

35. I'm hungry.

And I don't know what I want.

And I'm probably going to have insomnia tonight because I have to go somewhere tomorrow that I don't want to go.

I'm sitting in a chair here, and my legs are bouncing up and down nervously.

[electric_blue68]

36. Sorry you have to go somewhere tomorrow you don't want to go to...

Anything good in your fridge you can make, or have?

And any soothing music, or a comedy you can stream?

[LuckyCharms]

37. I'll just have some yogurt, a small healthy garden salad...

and 4 whoppers with cheese.

[electric_blue68]

38. 😄 There ya go!

[LuckyCharms]

40. Actually, it's too late to eat...

yogurt.

[electric_blue68]

43. Oh, suuuure.

😄

[LuckyCharms]

45. Yogurt at this time of night is just too much.

I'll probably just have a couple of pints of ice cream instead.

[electric_blue68]

47. Well...ok, then! 😄👍

[LuckyCharms]

48. And...

just two whoppers with cheese.

[electric_blue68]

49. Ah, a bit more restrained!

[LuckyCharms]

50. Well, now you have me thinking...

maybe it's TOO restrained.

Jesus, why am I so hungry?

[electric_blue68]

52. Since there's somewhere you Don't want to go tomorrow, I'm guessing...

some anxiety?

[LuckyCharms]

54. You're probably right.

[electric_blue68]

56. I sometimes get it right. Good luck, tomorrow!

👍

[LuckyCharms]

58. Thank you, and thanks for the good banter.

I hope you have a good night!

[niyad]

39. There has been a nest in my porch light for the last two years.

No birds, no babies, just the nest. People ask me why I don't remove it. Why would I? The birds want it there.

[LuckyCharms]

41. I usually leave mine too, niyad.

[niyad]

46. I think they like to play with a long piece of string that hangs out of

the nest, and moves with the wind.

[LuckyCharms]

53. .

&list=RDZCtQdALo9DI&start_radio=1

[Enter stage left]

42. You are my hero about your love for birds...

I grew up with parakeets (budgies) and learned to love and be amazed with birds.

I have a number of books describing birds but never had them with me when I found one I didn't recognize.

2 years ago I found the "Merlin" app, and absolutely love it.

It was difficult to log into and get set up, but once I did, it has worked brilliantly.

Just yesterday I saw a bird I didn't recognize and using the app found it was a Northern Mockingbird.

This is an wonderful app, I hope they have made it easier to sign up for.

I love birds!

[LuckyCharms]

44. That's very nice!

I'm not a student of birds, I just enjoy the heck out of them. They fascinate me.

When I spoke about the cedar waxwings previously. I didn't know they were cedar waxwings. The wildlife rehabilitator had to tell me what they were.

I'll check out the Merlin app...thank you!

[OAITW r.2.0]

51. My advice? Keep recording and keep being amazed.

What a long strange it's been.

[LuckyCharms]

55. It has been, indeed...

[OAITW r.2.0]

57. If you ever make it up to God's Paradise - Central Maine....

we ought to hook up my friend.

[LuckyCharms]

59. I would love that...

I've been to Portland, Freeport, Ogunquit...

It's wonderful up there.

[OAITW r.2.0]

60. Me, too.

I grew up in Saco, Maine. Literally, right on the Saco River, 2 miles from Camp Ellis and the breakwater. Shared a family home at Biddeford Pool, until we could not justify, as a family, anymore.

[GPV]

61. Spring in Maine is May, so I've got a bit of a wait. :)