From yesterday afternoon. Saw plenty in Thornton and Willow. Note the snail. Not sure if it’s native but they are an indicator of lower water quality. It’s amazing the trout can tolerate how bad it is. The salmon really don’t. They’re almost all gone.

I’m pretty sure these are cutthroat but we have a few rainbow as well and I think they interbreed so it might be difficult to be sure either way.

Dicentra formosa.

A mated pair right over the house all morning. Couldn’t get a shot with both in the frame and I think both images are the same bird.

From today–

Another hummingbird nest and the first mason bee of the year.

I don’t know yet if anyone has shown interest in moving in but on the weekend for the first time ever there were four downy woodpeckers in the yard at the same time. Two (mabye three) males “fighting” for the territory.

Update to Sharp-shinned hawk: the very next day I saw it or, more likely, a Cooper’s hawk, tearing a robin to pieces across the creek. I tried to get a picture but spooked it. When I got to the tree where it had been eating there were downy feather floating in the air.

I collected what I could find–

And brought it back for the feather jar–

There is at least one pair of resident downy woodpeckers in and around the yard. I even found their nest two years back in a dead tree across Thornton creek. They moved out shortly after I found it and I thought it was because they didn’t like anyone knowing where they were. The tree blew down a week later so I guess they just knew that tree’s number was up.

I really wanted them nesting nearby again and I wanted some more generic bird boxes to I bought some cedar bird houses on Ebay. The holes are too big for most of the birds I want but just right for downy woodpeckers if I can get them to accept the design. Woodpeckers like deep(er) nestboxes.

Out front is a really great but really dead tree. It’s got southern exposure and is quite tall.

Meanwhile, a visitor watches the progress

He took a duck in the face at 250 knots.

So, the trick is to make the birds feel more at home. A good way to do this is to stuff the bird box with wood chips. That way they feel more like they’re excavating a natural nest and other birds are less likely to snatch up the real estate.

Since trees fall down here left, right, and center it was a 10 pace trek to find some hatchet fodder. Once the house was loosely stuffed to the hole-level it went up the ladder, about 17" high.

And if you haven’t seen these woodpeckers before, here is one below; the resident female. They are the smallest woodpeckers in North America (maybe in the world, I’m not sure) and I really hope the new box entices the pair, or even a new pair, to settle down and raise a brood (3-6 eggs). (Google for downy woodpeckers.)

Found yesterday under a log. 3-4 millimeters high.

In the back yard right now.

From last spring. It's a bit early after some freezes still for these.

Though this photo is from last year, the first bumblebee of the year—same species, which I don’t know—just flew through.

A birdhouse in the back I built for chickadees is currently filled with the eggs of a different species of bumblebee; slumbering through the flowerless seasons. No good photos yet because they're quite a bit more aggressive than most bumblebees and have sent me running for safety several times. They are beautiful with bright red and yellow bands.

Another bumblebee photo from last year.