Nov 20, 2015 - Feb 9, 2016 

I am noticing definite changes outside: I see blossoms on my plum tree, I hear wrens singing in the yard and hummingbirds swooping past my head. I think it is time to call it: Winter is over. Time to put up my Winter Highlights album and start looking for spring birds beginning to nest and hang out in flowers.

This winter was spent relatively close to home with trips north into the Skagit Flats and south to Nisqually. It wouldn't be a Pacific Northwest winter album without a bunch of short-eared owls, so you will see plenty of them. But I didn't ignore our forest, shore, or water birds, many of which were found at my local haunt of Discovery Park.