It is January, at least two months before we can really expect anything to happen on the change of seasons front. However, if you watch and listen closely, subtle changes are occurring each day as the hours of sunlight lengthen.

First a white-breasted nuthatch was merrily yelling out its summer mating song as it hammered at a sunflower seed near the feeders yesterday. (You can hear both summer and winter calls here. ) I had a friend who used to call these clever little birds "ass-ups", which is crude but descriptive of the way they hitch around the side of a tree, clinging to the bark. I also heard, but didn't see, what I do believe was a robin at the same time. I know they winter over quite often up north, but they never show up here at Northview until along about this time. Guess it is warmer over on the other side of the river, where all the south-facing banks are.

Then yesterday afternoon I noticed that the cows are beginning to shed. A lot. You might think that warmer weather brings this about, but it is longer day-length that does this trick too. The hair falls out fast this time of year and it seems like everything (including us) is soon coated with it.

There is also an elusive somebody coming around the feeders, but not showing its face. I keep hearing a loud, wheep, wheep call like a downy woodpecker on steroids. I'll bet it is a red-bellied woodpecker, but I am not familiar enough with the call to be sure. Maybe he will show his day-glo orange spotted head on the suet soon so I can be sure.