I was recently surprised to see to see a robin very nonchalantly hopping and flying about.

Robins overwinter here but except for very occasional December or January views of them when they stick to the dense thickets and shrubs close to the ground and near their shared winter accommodations, a sight of them is somewhat rare. This one was very active and looking rather springy, too.

I saw a pair of red-shafted northern flickers, too. They overwinter as well but also seemed to be very active; one of them was drumming and showing some mating behaviours. So, seeing these birds convinced me that we might soon be seeing spring.

But then I surprised a small flock of coots that were huddled next to the breakwater boulders along the lakeshore. They prefer the smaller ponds up in the mountains, but if those are frozen over, they are forced to move to the much bigger, open lakes. So, like the groundhogs, they might be signalling another six weeks of winter!

Hummm. A good sign and a poor sign.

Oh well, whatever we get, I’m not going to complain since our winter has been very mild.

Happy Tuesday.