Interior Decorating

Our friends Robin and Denise are doing a little re-decorating - refinishing a few tables, painting a few walls.  The pups and the pillow are staying as they are.

Liverworts

     Mosses, liverworts and hornworts are the simplest plants, having no vascular structures and reproducing with spores.  Here the flat liverworts are in amongst moss on a log in a wet area of Oak Openings (where the skunk cabbage was coming up).  

     These plants do not seem to pay attention to the seasons and provide bright color even in the winter.  

Signs of Spring

Skunk cabbage is one of the first native plants to show up in the spring (the non-native snow drops have been blooming down the road from me for a week or so).  I found this little guy poking up through the ground in a wet area of Oak Openings Metropark yesterday.  

The Common Mergansers are back.

The Tufted Titmice are singing. 

Somewhere the Great Horned Owls are feeding their babies. The Bald Eagles are working on their nests.

Even though it's been a mild winter, these signs of spring make me happy!

Curious Nuthatch

Curious as in "exciting attention as strange, novel, or unexpected".  
This little fellow was sitting in this position one recent early morning for over 20 minutes.  I knew he wasn't dead, because I could see him blinking.  I became concerned that he was frozen to the mesh (it was around 20 degrees), so I went outside to investigate.  He just sat there blinking as I slowly approached.  He finally flew when I was about two feet away.  
He is a White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis). 

Crack!

Finally Frozen

Yesterday the river froze for the first time this season.  We've had just enough snow the past several days.  It looks wintry, but there's no hindrance to walking or driving.  More birds are at the feeders.  The walk around the block with Hudson before bedtime is bright with reflected light.  We can feel we haven't cheated winter, even if we get no more!

Great Minds Think Alike

     This is the view that greeted me as I entered the dining room with my hot toast and tea.  

Later this morning, I received this photo from Dan in an email.  He took the shot as he arrived at work.