Ahh Spring

      This is my time of year!  I can't get enough of it.  Anything that's not an absolute necessity is being neglected while I make myself busy with all of the fun, exhausting, back-tweaking but very rewarding toil of Spring.  I feel like when I get it all cleaned up (meaning brown dead stuff gone, green new growth showing through), then it's "presentable".  Now we're open for business.  Of course the wildlife doesn't wait for me...
      With a surge of Lifeforce, in no time we went from buds on twigs to a full-on green hug.  Privacy has returned to our little patch of Heaven.  Old friends I said goodbye to last fall have re-emerged from the soil to get reaquainted.  Peony, Astilbe, Hosta, Tradescantia, Budleia, Iris, Lily and Rose- all very good friends of mine, arriving for a garden party.
      The birds are way ahead of us.  In February the Mourning Doves ceased their mourning and began romancing.  That's why we have a few new plump short-tailed sparsley marked Doves frequenting the feeders.  The first little Robin baby surfaced just last week, looking nothing like a Robin of course.  All speckled and full of Life, exploring, testing objects for possible food sources.  Mom and Dad are around but probably adding to the family already.  They trust that their little ones are fine with the training they were given earlier and under the watchful eye of Mother Nature, they will find their way in this world.
      Osprey and Purple Martin have returned.  Cardinals are courting, the male delicately feeding the female as the Mockingbird is singing his heart out in the treetops.  How can I stay inside?  There's so much to see!
      Across the street there are some very tall Pines that Crows frequent.  When I spied our Blue Jays
nest-building in what looked like the perfect tree crotch I was concerned.  Sure enough one morning there was a flurry of activity and a lot of squawking and cawing.  In a flash - silence.  Again I see Blue Jays nest building this time in my yard.  I wish I could have told them that Crows like eggs for breakfast.
      One of my very favorite birds is the Catbird.  They are so very friendly and curious about us.  Wherever you are if you have Catbirds you can look up and see them quietly stalking you.  They are in the same Family as Brown Thrashers and Mockingbirds, and closely related to Robins.  Though less garish than Mockingbirds they are equally good songsters.  They mimic other birds and sing sweetly in the bushes almost as though they are whistling to themselves.  We have had a pair in the same area of the yard for years now.  It is difficult to believe that they are not the same birds, or at least the same male or female that begins the nest and attracts the mate to it.  (They look identical so who knows which is which.) 
      They are so comfortable around us that this year they have begun building a nest right next to the porch, within view.  Did someone else beat them to their favorite spot?  Are these the offspring that were born here last year? Or has the Viburnum just become that much more irresistable since it has grown in leaps and bounds this year?  These and other issues will be pondered while sipping coffee or iced green tea on said porch this season... binoculars in hand, of course!