Nature Done Wright

  No sign of Ace for almost two weeks now.

   Pictured here is the empty box of wood chips. Looks pretty inviting to me.

   The good news is that the squirrel has not been back to the nesting box either.  Every morning I check the monitor, but the box is empty.
   Occasionally the chicakdees and titmice fly up to the box to see if Ace is around. They are no doubt thrilled that he is gone.
   I am still hoping that between now and mid-March, Ace will be back on the case. I am told by a fellow screech owler in Massachusetts that it is not uncommon for the male to leave for a few weeks this time of year, so all is possible.
   Still, he had been in the nesting box for more than 30 days in a row until early January, and I got used to activating the monitor each morning and seeing his sleeping self.
    Now that I took down the feeders to discourage the squirrels from hanging around, I don’t have nearly as many birds stopping by.
    In the grand scheme of things, this is trivial stuff.  But it is also a reminder to me: When you’ve got a good thing going, never take it for granted.