Finally Flowers

 After months of waiting and days of watching, we finally have our first blooms of the year!

One singular purple crocus!

Two glorious white crocuses! (Even their stems!)

Ravens Calling

I took my morning walk alone today, a little later than usual, and as I headed out I heard the ravens calling, croaking back & forth to each other. I stopped and took a little video of the trees creaking in the wind, hoping they'd call again while recording, but they didn't. So I walked to the end of the driveway and waited for a truck to pass.

@bunnykissd

Trees cracking in the cold, and crunchy deep snow... I saw a pair of ravens and the fisher!

♬ original sound - Diana Bukowski

As I waited, one raven flew overhead and in the opposite direction from the way I usually walk. After the truck passed, I decided to follow it. It looped in circles overhead, as I called good morning to it, and eventually landed in a tree not far along. I walked faster than usual, trying to keep up, and keep warm; the wind and cold were bitter!

As I approached, it continued to call to another raven, who made a brief appearance, before they both flew across the street over the woods, and perched in trees looking over the valley. I walked closer, hoping to get a better view of them, but instead saw a large dark shape in an evergreen not far from me. My first thought was that it was a great horned owl, but maybe just a strange branch. So I watched and walked a little closer to get a better view.

Then it turned on the branch, and I thought for just a split second it was a big black cat. (We have many stray/barn cats in the neighborhood.) But as it jumped to the ground, I realized it was not the right shape! Bigger, longer body, thicker longer tail... It was a fisher! It had jumped to where I could no longer see it, so I jogged home to tell my beloved!

When I looked at the photos I took of the raven flying away, I noticed that I could see the fisher in the tree!