Yesterday morning I watched a Pileated Woodpecker working its way North through a tract of woods behind our property.  It would fly to the bottom of a tree, examine it spiraling up to the top, stopping sporadically to peck briefly, then, fly off to the base of another tree to repeat his foraging -- calling out all the while.
      Later, around 12 noon, my mother and I were walking about the backyard checking for crocuses, daffodils and tulips which are just emerging, when a crow-sized Coopers Hawk (I don't know if it was male or female) swooped around from the front of the house, banked hard when it saw us, then flew up into a row of Hemlock trees that line the North of the property.  Since the Hemlocks' needles are sparce due to Woolly-Adelgid-damage, I could see it sitting in there eyeing us intently.  We believe it was originally headed toward the black-oil bird feeder near our kitchen window, but we blocked its mid-day snack. My mom, who is hard of sight, couldn't see the hawk on its perch, but, after a minute, the hawk gave up, and my mom did see the movement of it flying down and away towards the West into that tract of woods behind our house.

      Went for a 20 minute walk this morning around 336 am with hopes of some critter activity. Under an overcast sky with the almost full moon glowing through the clouds in the Western sky, the windchill was 23 degrees F, but it felt colder. Way in the distance, twice trains sounded their whistles and twice I heard loud vehicles -- a car with muffler issues, and a noisy tractor-trailer rumbling up Route 9, but otherwise the silence was absolute.  Three times I heard a faint brief sound, but when I stopped to listen, it was gone.  Maybe just a dog.  Possibly an owl.  
      When I was almost back to the house and feeling disappointed at the critter-free walk, I heard the distinctive sound of geese calling overhead as they were apparently flying North -- a sign of Spring, but it sure felt like Winter this morning.

      Yesterday morning at 215 am I heard the coyote pack howling over towards Vassar Farm.  It wasn't the usual sound though.  It was more energetic as well as in a minor key.  Very different from what I've heard before.  Gather they got a fawn.  We've had a doe with one fawn frequenting the property just about daily, and I know there are many more fawns around.  The coyotes always seem to come back this time of year for the pickings.

      Two days ago, March 8 just before 5am with a bright full-moon in the West, a flock of turkeys that roosts in the neighborhood began gobbling, but I hadn't heard what set them off.  Then I did.  The very faint call of a coyote pack coming from the direction of Vassar Farm.  The howls, yips and barks were brief but unmistakable.  I used to hear them every Spring around the time the white tail deer drop their fawn, and then in the Autumn, but that hasn't happened for over a year.  
      Hopefully I'll hear them again as the fawns aren't due for a couple months.

      Every year I hear the coyote pack howling or see them roaming about during my morning walks, but last year, nothing.  Then yesterday while driving North on Rt 9, I saw a hearty medium sized coyote dead on the side of the road from an apparent car-strike.  It's coat was full, and it appeared to be well fed.

      Went for my walk at 228 am with the hope of seeing shooting stars from the Quadrantids meteor shower that was due to peak around 230 am coming from the NE -- triangulate Ursa Major, the head of Draco, and Bootes.  
      The temp was 9F, the sky was clear, the half moon was low in the Western Sky, and the stars were bright, but with the pervasive ambient light and low degree of visible sky due to trees and buildings, viewing was tricky.  I spent the first half of my walk heading toward the direction the meteors were to be coming from, and not one did I see, though I tried.  Luckily the morning was deeply quiet (even with 2 cars that passed, and one train that called out its 4-horn crossing-warning), and the air was sweet, so the walk was delightful, albeit quite chilly.  
      After returning from my walk, and picking up the newspaper from the box, I looked to the West to check out Orion, when suddenly, just South of that constellation, a beautiful bright shooting star blazed from mid-sky towards the horizon.  Not where it was supposed to be, but really cool!
      I like to imagine in that cold dark silent morning air I heard the meteor sizzle.