Winter is back – there were no signs of spring at all this time. There was new snow with lots of fresh tracks, and the fields were frozen. I planted most of the rest of the seeds, and we tried to burn the brush pile in the Narrows.
We discovered that brush piles don’t burn when there’s fresh snow on top of them and a layer of snow underneath. We got a good fire started but it was just too difficult to keep it going. We burned about one fifth of the pile – we’ll try again when conditions are drier.

Here’s Mike and the fire.

And here’s the only part of the pile we managed to burn.

We were listening hard for owls, because this time last year was when the Saw-whet Owl came to stay in our nest box. I tried calling them in with the owl tape, but had no luck at all. The only change in the birds was that we had 3 Mourning Doves enjoying the millet at and under the feeders. We don’t see Wild Turkeys much these days, but we see their tracks, especially near the north end of Buffalo Ridge Prairie – that seems to be their favorite place to cross from the fields into the woods.

The coyotes were howling one night, in the valley above the Frog Pond. And Mike saw the woodchuck for the first time this year.