White-throated Sparrows

I noticed that they were back for the first time yesterday and was very happy to see them. They looked like friendly companions hopping around under the feeders, scratching the ground together. But this morning I was startled out of my reading by the loud thud of one hitting the window. It was lying stunned on its back. One of its 'companions' came, jumped up on its stomach and began pecking wildly at its head from side to side. A few seconds later a third white-throated sparrow dive bombed them. For a split second all three of them were on their feet in a tight little circle, including the formerly stunned one. Then they all flew quickly into the woods. Now what was that little drama taking place right before my voyeuristic eyes all about? A love triangle maybe?

Raven

I was looking out of our upstairs windows while watering my little new geraniums lined up on the sills when I saw the raven flying low across our front lawn. I'm used to seeing them high over our trees, but not swooping low over the ground. Our chickens are penned up late spring and summer to protect the gardens. In winter they travel set paths because of snow. But early spring and fall they wander far and wide. Every once in a while one of the hens has to hurry back to wherever they've established one of their nests to lay her egg. When she's finished, she comes out onto the lawn and cackles loud and long. I don't know if it's because she's so proud of the wonder she's once again accomplished. It may be that she's calling to the others in an effort to find them and rejoin the flock. Sometimes neither my husband or I know where the latest nests are. We listen for the cackling for ideas on where to look. Turns out we aren't the only ones who do that. My husband was leaving the eggs hoping one of the hens would sit on them. The smallest one we call 'the little red hen' likes to do that. (My husband has always loved having babies.) But watching and waiting was the raven. One by one it stole the eggs from the nest in the old fish house and from the nest in the hay stored behind the garage. I saw it over the trees late Sunday afternoon and this time I could see the last of the eggs in its beak.

Junco

I've always thought that the juncos just migrate through this area, spring and fall. Big flocks of them come to the feeders for a few weeks and then they're gone. But that may not be true. As many as fifteen or twenty blue jays at a time are at our feeders fall and winter. Only a few come in spring. We see them in the woods all summer, but not in our yard. Maybe at least some of the juncos stay for the summer too, finding food they like better than what I'm putting out. I watched a little junco one morning last week marching along a landscape timber outside my window. It was picking up thin strands of dry grass that had grown long so near the timber out of the reach of the lawn mower. Three times I saw it fill up its beak until finally it had to open too wide to accommodate just one more strand. At that point all strands fell back to the ground. This didn't seem to upset the little junco in the least. It calmly started over again with the same predictable result. Was it building a nest? Or just kind of practicing nest building? Or not much thinking about what it was doing at all? Unlike me. I was thinking about it.