I’m a little late this year but bird feeders and suet cages are all up.
Took two hours but soon enough we had titmouses, chickadees, and a wren....the only bird that sings in winter.
Of course a squirrel-rodent soon enough found the goodies. My dogs love to chase the squirrel-rodents just as soon as I open the sliding door. The cats sit by the glass door all day to watch the birds and squirrel-rodents.
Makes my day just to sit and watch all the critters.
Also, dark-eyed Juncos, Soon the cardinals will come and a dog might catch a squirrel-rodent.
Squirrel-rodent? Well, my Dad always called 'em Tree Rats...
As far as Signs of Spring are concerned, I'm going to have to wait for that two feet of snow in the yard to at least begin to melt. Which is going to be a while, since the last forecast I saw said we could get another 3-6 inches in the next couple days and I haven't seen a Tree Rat in public since Thanksgiving....
Friend of mine in town was musing the other day about going out and buying a snow blower, in fact. Only drawbacks beside "bein' plumb spendy" (aka expensive in MontanaSpeak) was that he didn't have a place to store it and "I know damn well that I do buy one and that'll be the last snow I see."
I think he finally settled on corralling one of his grandkids and having him shovel....
Come to my house. You can hear crows "singing" all winter long :)