They're Alive!!

It's been a somewhat long and drawn-out winter, but the pheasants seem to be holding up just fine.  We've come out of another polar vortex and as the temperatures climbed above zero this morning, I ventured out to see how our feathered friends were getting along.  Finding birds has been real hit or miss in the last couple of months.  Cordie and I have ventured out in the past and had trouble finding any sign of the birds.  We really haven't received a ton of snow, but enough to keep the ground white.  The temperatures have been the rough part, with many days below zero, and long stretches of cold, windy weather.  We've been hoping the birds are hanging in there.  Our theory has been that with the amount of food and cover that was available this year, that the birds should have entered the winter in the best shape that we could hope for.

It is March and we're not out of the woods yet, but things should begin to turn around here.  It was good to see as I pulled into one of the properties this morning that I could see the birds scrambling about in and amongst the trees.  Many birds of prey had the birds utilizing some dense brushy cover as they waited for any number of them to make a mistake and leave their protection.  The birds weren't in any hurry to bound into the open, but eventually began frantically scurrying and flying about.  Lots of hens and just enough roosters to hopefully provide for a successful hatch this spring.

Many birds stayed tucked in as I began to drive between the rows.  Some even held underneath the cedars and russian olives until I drove past.  The rooster below had no intentions of leaving his hidey-hole.

Like I said, we've got  a ways to go yet, but things look good so far.  It won't be long now, and March will be going out like a lamb, and April rain showers will cleanse the ground of any sign of winter.  As things begin to green-up, those hens will be dispersing and picking their nesting spots.  Soon enough we'll be whining about how hot it is, and looking for chicks and wishing it was October again.  Soon enough.