Animal Signs

Mid January

It is three degrees outside this morning. I pass through the quiet neighborhood streets listening to a bird with a seven syllable call. It sounds like, ‘tweedle, deedle, tweedle, deedle, tweedle, deedle----deet.’

‘Tweedle, deedle, tweedle, deedle, tweedle, deedle----deet’

‘Tweedle, deedle, tweedle, deedle, tweedle, deedle----deet’

‘Tweedle, deedle, tweedle, deedle, tweedle, deedle----deet’

I realize that I have not heard a single bird since December. He is the one and only I have heard all winter. I realize that I noticed the stillness of winter before this interruption.

I hear him on one of the coldest mornings we’ve had. Did he just return? Where did he come from? Is he here because he is expecting better weather than we’ve had?

I cannot help expecting cause and effect behavior though this may be wrong. Does he know something about the weather that I would not expect in three degree cold?

Is he a sign that winter will end sooner rather than later?

PS. There is about 28 inches of snow on ground now and we are expecting 5-10 more inches as we are in the middle of a three day storm. One can only hope for better weather soon.