We made it home from the fly fishing Expo (http://www.nwexpo.com./) just fine, a little late and tired. As soon as we dropped down to about 4,500' the roads were pretty good.

Today didn't produce much precip, just lots of wind. There were whitecaps on the Williamson River! Yet, with high winds, a high of 42F today and a snowstorm rolling in tonight and tomorrow, a Red-winged Blackbird between our cabin and the river was singing his spring song. A pair of Canada Geese was feeding and resting on the ground near one of our bird feeders, and the first pair of Killdeer of the season was in the horse's paddock. We also saw our first Turkey Vulture of the season this far north on this east side of the Cascades. Even though we are nearly on the floor of the Klamath Basin the elevation is still 4,150' above sea level. It made me recall the much greater advance of the season some 200 miles further north that we saw in the Willamette Valley the past few days. Life is tuned in to the coming spring even though we may get a temporary weather setback. Furthermore, we still do need the moisture with its benefits to the plant life and everything else.

A mature Bald Eagle put on a show along Modoc Rim above us as it worked its way to the rim from the Williamson River and then into the strong winds as it flew close to the brow of the Rim, sometimes below the tops of the trees, in a southerly direction. What a master of the air! The eagle approached the Rim almost directly at the satellite Golden Eagle nest there, so we watched to see if it would go to the nest or if a territorial confrontation would develop. It seemed to pay no attention to the nest and there must have been not Golden Eagle to see what we observed. A few minutes later a dark phase Red Tailed Hawk approached the Rim at about the same place the eagle had but, after circling a few times, turned north with the winds and followed Modoc Rim out of sight.