Almost nothing, but always something

After a couple of days of rain, sunny with wispy clouds, and low 50s.

We walk around Craighead Forest Lake, as always wearing our binoculars. But there is very little in the way of birdlife (a flock of 35 white-fronted geese flies over), and virtually no sign of insect life. Well, there is one sign of life: In the bare branches of a small birch tree on the edge of the lake we easily pick out four walnut-sized cocoons of the polyphemus moth, a spectacular big silk moth. Cheryl takes a picture of one of the cocoons. It reminds us of the pair we saw mating in our back yard last year.

We get back home and eat our lunch looking out the dining room window at one of our bird feeders. A southern bog lemming darts out from under the leaves from time to time to grab a spilled sunflower seed then darts back into hiding again. I snap a blurry picture of it through the glass.

Three days ago our downy woodpecker started  drumming, and now he is tolerating a female in the yard. This is a sure sign of spring approaching.