News From The Neighborhood

Things have been hopping in the neighborhood with the arrival of Spring. Along with the buds and new leaves on the trees, and the daffodils popping up all over the place, my wildlife neighbors have been busy as well. 

Remember the squirrel family that had a nest inside the roof of the upstairs porch across the way? They were dispossessed by a pack of grackles last year but I am happy to report that they have retaken their home and have been super busy cleaning it up and rebuilding the nest for the babies to come (did you know that baby squirrels are called "kittens? How cute it that?"). The other day I witnessed a feat of squirrel engineering mastery as I watched Mrs. Squirrel try to get a Y-shaped piece of tree branch about a foot long into a small, round hole. Talk about patience and focus. When she finally got it in I actually applauded. I have a little stuffed squirrel on my desk and I gave him a high-five for the ingenuity of his species. 

Not to be swept aside, the aforementioned grackles, having been evicted, took up residence downstairs so to speak. In the space between the floor of the upstairs porch and the roof of the downstairs porch is an opening big enough for the grackle family to move in. They, too, have been very busy carrying in nesting materials. The day after the Great Branch Challenge, Mrs. Grackle showed up with the longest piece of what looked like a length of dried corn stalk, measuring at least three feet, that I have ever seen a bird that size carry. Not to be outdone by her upstairs neighbor, Mrs. Grackle proceeded to enter the hole with the end of the material in her beak, and then, as if by magic, I witnessed the length of the stalk being pulled in inch by inch until the entire thing disappeared. One of the things that grackles are known for are their tenacity!

The blue jays have been out joyously playing tag in the Spring sunshine, the robins have been plentiful and in full voice, and a tiny female cardinal has been coming to visit every day outside the window. She sits and stares into the window and chirps away. I'd like to think she's coming to visit me but I'm sure it has more to do with my little stuffed cardinals - friends of my stuffed squirrel - that adorns the windowsill over my desk. Hi, my name is Flower Bear, aka Barb, and I adore tiny stuffed woodland animals.

Spring is here. After a year when we were sure it would never arrive, it has come and brought with it new beginnings and new adventures. Regardless of what else goes on out there in the great big world, Mother Nature always delivers. While our human lives might be undergoing drastic changes, nothing changes in the world of the creatures we share this planet with. They come back, build their nests, and do what they do. When everything else around us seems to be changing at breakneck speed, these are the precious things we can always hold on to and enjoy.

And so it is.