As part of one of my jobs, I have the entertaining duty to try to sell birdhouses. I have been diligently telling people that early March is the ideal time to put up said birdhouses.  It is, after all, that time of the year for a number of the birds that favor birdhouses: the chickadees have been pairing off, as have the woodpeckers. There are a remarkable number of blue birds hanging about, though no swallows yet.  (A good thing, since swallows need flying insects and are long-distance migrants; bluebirds however can overwinter as far north as Pennsylvania and sometimes even southern Connecticut).

However…..there is a bit of a problem with actually putting a house Up this year. Since most houses are best mounted on poles, one needs to put the pole in the ground.  This is fine if the pole is already in the ground.  But if it isn’t….well, I am sure this snow will melt someday… I just hope none of my customers remember what I said in December.  It is true most years!

It is remarkable though, how loud the woods get at this time of the year. All of the woodpeckers are debating their trees, the smaller birds are very active, the crows are beginning to move about more though they are not yet paired off again.  On a warm day, the woods are alive even if they don’t look it.