Waking up from Winter

Even in the dying days of January, it is still too early in these parts to be thinking about spring. We are certainly later in winter but it is still winter and we could certainly get reminders of that during the next several weeks. But there are the first signs of some animals moving on from winter survival mode and into finding territories to prepare for new births that will come later.

The raccoons have been out more often since the weather has warmed into more normal January temperatures. I know they don’t truly hibernate but they do tend to sleep through a lot of December and January. But we are also having fights over the prime real estate near the house. I can hear them at night squabbling over who gets to stay and who must seek out new digs. 

During the winter, I think they tend to huddle in larger numbers for warmth but, as we move towards spring, it is like they don’t want to big family around. We don’t get babies until much later in the year but establishing territory comes first.

The owls have been calling to each other for several nights now. I’m not an expert on owl courtship but I know they have separate territories over the winter and then get together to raise the young. We are about a six weeks out from when they might lay the first eggs but there is time needed to determine if they are a match.

Don’t know if the male or female stays around the house during the winter but I think it is the male because they typically invite the female in and then try to show them that they’ve got a good location. There is a tree that they’ve nested in for the last three years and an abundance of food around so I suspect we’ll get another brood this year as well. But the process is starting now.

Same with the few robins that risked overwintering here. The ones that survived the sub zero temps are now positioned to try and take the best territories so they can attract a mate. We have a bird bath out so we have a consistent source of water which the robin made use of several times during the extreme cold so I guess the area around that is prime real estate.

Last year, the robin decided that the bluebirds were his rivals and he’s again decided that he needs to drive them all out. Of course, I have no way of knowing if it is the same robin but the behavior is the same. When it was super cold, he didn’t seem to mind the bluebirds. This morning, he was squawking and flying at them to chase them away from the feeders that he doesn’t use. At this point, the bluebirds have numbers, so his actions have no effect on them.

Some time in the next month or so, we’ll see the first red winged blackbirds and turkey vultures as they are the first of the migratory birds to return to the area. That’s the next sign post on the road to spring.