As I was returning from the park’s precipitation measuring station this morning (0.8″ of snow, 0.04″ of moisture), I heard a weird loud bird noise coming from the large snag west of the parking lot. It was our resident acorn woodpecker – saying good morning, I suppose. We used to have two of these clownish birds in the park (new for this part of Colorado), but only one seems to be around lately. Yesterday, I heard the song of a mountain chickadee, first one this year – likely a male in early breeding mode. The song is an indication to other males that it is establishing a breeding territory, and/or a call to females out there that he is around and available. The other day, up in Manitou Springs (about 50 miles north of Beulah), I heard the loud call of a flicker. All of this bird music tells me that spring, and nesting, and young birds, are just around the corner. Spring being around the corner implies that it is currently winter, and it has been feeling and looking like winter lately. Last night’s snow brings the winter’s total to 36.3″ of snow so far. This is still very much droughtville, and it’s hard to believe we will reach average by the end of snow season (118″ for Beulah). But, you never know – March and April can be big snow months – statistically, anyway.