This evening I sat down on the couch by the back door to eat my supper and soon had this furry audience. My neighborhood raccoon, a pregnant female, just sat there looking at me through the door clearly wanting a piece of the big bowel of pasta I was eating. Unfortunately for her my food was not for sharing. Normally she comes around in the late evening shortly before sunset when the evening compost gets thrown out, but lately she has been coming around in the early evening. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do because I had nothing to give her. There was no compost to go out this evening either.
 
There hasn't been much to see out the back door lately. The American Tree Sparrows have moved on and this year has been very poor for White-throated Sparrows so far. Normally I have ten or so that stick around in the area for a few weeks from mid-April to mid-May, singing everyday, but this year I've only had a few that stuck around for a few days. I haven't seen or heard many out in the field either. All that remains at my feeders now are a handful of Dark-eyed Juncos. The neighborhood Merlin has gone quiet too.