I was working with a website consultant last week and she pointedly asked me. I don't see a list of things to bring along on my trip. Why is that missing? The answer is simply that as I have told many of you over the years. All you really need is a jacket and a smile!

Yes it is true and not just one or two but a whole flock of maybe twenty birds. I had a neighbor ask me a couple of weeks ago if it was possible that they had seen a flock of bluebirds and I told them that I sometimes see a few mid-winter; usually males looking to occupy the best nesting habitats in the early spring. The flock I saw today had both males and females. Still I guess that the strategy is the same; to be here first and take the very best nesting places.

I drove home from Bangor yesterday in a snow turning to sleet / freezing rain then rain event; not that unusual. What you do notice is the lack of snow on the ground this morning and an air temperature of 49 degrees F. Again not that unusual for somewhere far to our south but early February in Maine, quite remarkable.