6:38 a.m. (sunrise one minute earlier than yesterday). 14 degrees, wind WNW 4 mph. Sky: super visibility, low line of blue-gray clouds east to west straddles the southern horizon, an aerial ridgeline. Suggestions of yellow and pink in the south, bright diluted rose-pink in the west—otherwise, a clear, sunrise blue. In the southwest, Mount Ascutney, a distant outlier, emerges into the topographic clouds. Permanent streams: upper, mink crossed but didn't follow the drainage, on a woodland mission, through the alders and maples, into the shadowed pines. Lower, bobcat crossed the drainage and joined the snowmobile trail north. Dogs take significant interest in cat tracks; not so much mink. Wetlands: drainage seam snaking through the marsh, a long, white fissure, where the mink patrols under the waxing gibbous moon. Pileated tattoos percussive hemlock, volley rolls across the reeds, the morning's tempo, sets the pace for the day. Two hairy woodpeckers, also in tune with late February, working dead limbs. A landscape of pulsation—the original Good Vibrations. Sparkling frost crystals outline alder branches and catkins—a visual counterpoint to the drumming woodpeckers. Pond: disastrously slippery, snow dust on ice. Raven flies west, the sun on his back, paired croaks, a ten-second pause, then croaks again, twice. A formulaic greeting . . . repeated a dozen times as bird and voice fade west.
Two red crossbills, flight calls over the pines, short series of gyp, gyp, gyp. Moved by day length and sunshine, chickadees whistle—musical boundary disputes. While I stand attuned, the sun rises above the Hollow's eastern apron, flooding the basin with light. Outlined in frost, backlit branches gleam—a stationary light show set to music by chickadee palaver. Red-breasted nuthatches and titmouse join the chorus, raising the bar on an unsullied morning.
More tracks in the woods: fisher, first of the winter, shrew troughs, mouse stitching, weasel bounding. Advertisement in the snow: personal and personable, fox (red, I think) seeks companionship. A love jaunt. Wanders the road, the woods, the snowmobile trail, the path between the upper and lower pasture, the front yard, and down the driveway to the road. An oblique loop, another of life's urgencies.
Times they are a changin'!