I wondered why robins would be pecking at frozen ground. Surely, there aren't any bugs or worms in the ground with these freezing nights? That's what I and a friend thought.
But when I dug a hole today to plant a pine tree, the shovel went in easily and I saw two worms and a grub. I also saw a beetle but he may have come out of a bag of mulch I emptied in the tree hole. I had stored that bag since last summer at least in the garage. It was intermixed with whole peanuts stored there by my garage dwelling mouse, who cached them from my bags of whole peanuts for the birds, or those I spilled.
Speaking of mice, I saw one, maybe the culprit, this evening when I straightened out a door mat on the deck, after the wind had upturned it. To my shock and his or hers, I had exposed a field mouse that was hiding in the folded mat. The mouse froze by the doorway for a second or two and then fled the deck for the bushes. It had a long tail and looked like a field mouse. I suspect he was after the bird seed spilled on the deck.
I plan to check the screech owl box tonight and the vernal pool tomorrow. Conditions could be right for the salamander march to occur between midnight and 7 a.m. on Wednesday, March 19, if the 45 percent chance of rain pans out.
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