Although we have had enough rain to call this month the Deluge Month, I am calling it the Hopeful Month. Already the peepers have trilled from their marshy, hatching places, Red-Winged blackbirds are at the big feeder along with newly arrived starlings and black birds, Chinese witch hazel is casting a soft yellow glow in hidden corners which you had forgotten and of course your daffodils are sprouting and blooming. So enjoy these signs and take comfort in that they can’t be turned back, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be more masses of rain and even snow.

A friend sent me a photo of a bluebird feeding upside down on her suet holder, which I had never seen. So off to Amazon I did go and now I have one too. As it hangs on an abandoned Shepherd’s crook right outside my window seat, I can watch chickadees, titmice and male and female (he has the red blob on the back of his neck, she doesn’t) downy woodpeckers. Of course the English sparrows eventually found it, but they fly away if the woodpeckers want to sit and feed and feed. I enjoy seeing the downys brace themselves with their little stiff forked tails while they feed, something I hadn’t been able to see before. As I am human, I would like to see more! Mainly a nuthatch or two and the larger hairy woodpecker.

Sorry to end on a dreary note, but did you wonder why the Shepherd’s Crook was abandoned? The evil raccoon could not leave the hummingbird feeder alone last spring. First she drank the sugar and water then she knocked the feeder to the ground. Of course I have been waiting to see if her evil ways would lead her also to suet — but so far so good.

Be of good cheer — April will come and the 15th is when you should welcome your hummers, IF you don’t have an evil beast.

Sidney Tynan

Little Compton