Near ledges, ravens can be seen carrying sticks; they are getting a jump on the nesting season / Mating season for the gray fox extends from January to April; kits arrive about 53 days after mating / Red-breasted nuthatches nest in old woodpecker nests or natural cavities. They smear the entrance with pitch, which may deter red squirrels from enlarging the hole / Saw whet owls may be calling – a monotonic too, too, too, too, too – repeated endlessly

High water spilling onto floodplains means good feeding for migratory waterfowl / Check your birdhouses: bluebirds, chickadees, and tree swallows will soon be looking for accommodations / Northern goshawks will leave the forest to investigate birdfeeders. Bluejays beware / Although awkward on land, the mergansers now arriving are superb divers, gaining crisp underwater vision by means of a third, transparent eyelid / Woodpecker drumming is on the rise

Crocuses are up if the snow has left – or nearly left / Migrating ducks: mallard, wood, black, buffleheads, and goldeneyes; also the great blue heron, if ponds have lost their icy covers / Grackles are here and, near wetlands, the morning air is filled with red-winged blackbird songs / Red foxes give birth. They will be weaned in about nine weeks but stay with their mother though the summer / Look for bobcats sunning on south-facing ledges

Male grouse are drumming for mates. They will continue to do this for several weeks / The year’s first chipmunk might be seen any time now / Woodcock are performing their popular courtship displays at twilight and dawn. Admission is free / Snow geese are migrating in huge flocks / First-of-the-year eastern phoebes will be noted soon, with tree swallows not far behind / Turkey vultures are returning. Now fairly common, they were rarely seen in the Northern Forest prior to 1960