There was a Cooper’s hawk in the maple tree in our front yard on March 3rd, clucking. I later noticed a large nest in the elm tree in our neighbor’s yard to the west. She has a nest there. Which explains why, one day as I was looking out the window to the back yard, a flurry of feathers began drifting down slantways from the west to east. She must have caught some lunch and was eating it or feeding it to young. She is a pretty thing, deadly though she be for the other birds. We have had many of our usual winter visitors- the lovely white throated sparrows, juncos, song sparrows, wrens, and recently many goldfinches and house finches.

Then, on March 13th, we woke up to about 3 inches of snow. First snow all winter that was more than a dusting. And yesterday, a torrential downpour that filled up our rain garden, which I am in process of digging out a bit more.