Better and better

How do I know it's spring? When do I consider it really spring?

Well, I think my notification comes in the form of the mourning doves who nest in the backyard. When they arrive...it's spring, no matter what the calendar says.

Robins are fun to watch, and they are everybody else's signpost, but not for me.

Robins are cute, but blase'. Ordinary. Run-of-the-mill. Comical to watch, I admit, but nothing earth-rocking.

And for the last few mornings, there has been a rather ambitious, but overly curious - and rather rambunctious - blue jay banging his beak on my east-facing wall. Somewhere around Karl's bedroom window, this jay has somehow figured he is going to dig his way to fame, fortune and an unbelievable jackpot in bugs by banging on my home. My pink brick home!

He may be perched and banging on the pergola that sits very near the wall, but man! If that noise is being transmitted through the wall...even with the space in between, then that big bad jay is a-knocking like the big bad wolf on steroids! I believe this is one of the jays that hatched and learned to fly two summers ago in our backyard (this may be the reason he is so comfortable and fearless, even with our very visible movements in close proximity). That was a summer event that I won't ever forget. I learned a lot about jays that year, too. But...

Getting back to the mourning doves. They are here once more. A very cute couple, too. I call them Pinky and Freckle, and they are busily checking out the digs. If you will recall, we had a nesting pair on the top of the pergola post under Karl's window last summer, but crows (or a nervous parent) knocked one of the eggs from the nest, and after the second egg hatched maybe ten days later, that chick was found dead on the ground below within a week. Hard to say what happened, but it was not an ideal place to put a nest, to say the least. Hopefully, this couple will not repeat that tragedy.

Yesterday I went out to gather the newspaper and heard the sound of a woodpecker nearby. I looked almost directly overhead, and sure as shootin' there he was! I love this time of year, so many old friends show up!

This spring thing just keeps getting better and better. Get outside and enjoy it why don't ya!