I stopped by Circle B a few weeks ago to find that winter was still holding strong. The landscape was brown with tiny hints of green – a sign that spring was thinking of emerging, even before the hard freeze. Regular visitors to the reserve will recognize these vantage points. They look a lot prettier in the spring!

The rest of this post was actually from February 2025. You know you’ve gotten a little busy when you leave a post in Draft for a full year! Even though the landscape is brown, the birds know that the warmer weather is coming. This Pileated Woodpecker flew in to say hi to my dad and me while we walked the trails.

It was late afternoon, and the sun was pretty on the resident birds. This Great Blue Heron stalked, and stalked, and extended that long neck, and watched, and waited…then bam! He snagged his supper on his beak. The poor fish went down in one gulp.

A Barred Owl was hidden in plain sight in an oak tree. “Who cooks for you?” he called down as we peered into the branches to locate him. Look at those big eyes. Wouldn’t you love to know what he’s thinking?

But the real stars of this particular visit were in a different oak tree, surrounded by moss and resurrection ferns. Their parents were off hunting and the two youngsters were alone at the nest. Well, as alone as you get when you are surrounded by friendly paparazzi! This Great Horned Owl nest is always well-loved by visitors. It’s tall enough that the birds don’t worry much about the curious photographers. On this particular day, we had Baby #1 on one side of the nest…

…and Baby #2 peering out from the other side of the nest! It’s amazing how well they blend in. We waited for a while, hoping the parents would bring in a nice mouse for dinner. Instead, we got to play peek-a-boo with the young owlets. Photographing these little guys never gets old!

So now I’ve almost cleared out my backlog of draft posts, and it’s springtime – time to get outside and see what other little nature’s miracles are awaiting! :)