cold

There certainly is a lot of red tailed hawks around right now. This large female frequents this area during the summer, usually. A nice picture, but she was not too happy to be photographed

The ravens have stopped congregating by the river in the evenings, though they still fly overhead, heading southeast. They have been replaced by small flocks of doves.

Living among trees has its downsides, such as the need for trimming of large mature tree branches. Cottonwoods are pretty notorious for shedding large branches in the winter. But all trees can snap limbs if the freeze is severe enough.

There are many spiders out before the summer's ants. Those two species don't seem to get along. This is a Parson spider, apparently the thorax looks like a Parson's collar? They are very common.

The number of gnats on the house walls is surprising large. I collected a large number to feed the frog of the house.

Out in the forests and deserts, buried underground somewhere are a large number of amphibians, who are still a long way from waking up but will snap up large number of gnats when the time is right.