"gloria.p" > wrote in message
...
>
> The past week we have had the return of the flickers.
>
> Every morning for an hour or two we have a big male flicker (woodpecker)
> drumming on the metal rooftop cap to our water heater. It sounds like a
> distant jackhammer in three to four second blasts. The sound gets
> annoying over time. There has also been a female poking around in the
> lawn at the same time.
>
> Spring is coming! (HAH, we had a dusting of snow on the grass this
> morning with another 8 weeks of possible snowstorms.)
>
> gloria p

Gloria,

I am sitting a neighbor's dog, so I was outside early this morning walking
over to their house. Two small groups (gaggles) of geese were flying about.
Working their way north I would suppose. I could hear other birds chirping
as they woke up. In the neighbor's house, I am having coffee and I hear a
racket. Later I hear it again, and realize it is a flicker pecking on
something outside their house. A pair of flickers nest in our maple every
year. We had James Hardie siding put on the parts of the house that are not
brick, so they cannot damage it. They do bang on the metal attic vents.
Spring is definitely in the air. Tulips are pushing up. I am looking
forward to the warm weather predicted for this week.

Later,
Dale