It's a sign...that all is well in vermont...and in the deep of winter, all
of life is supported!

Thanks for the share...I was just watching the trailer to the movie The
Secret, and a little 2 minute download called The Secret to you on the
website...then read your email, as I watch the wind swirl the fluffy snow
outside my home office window in Waitsfield!

What I have seen in our yard yesterday and today are brighter than winter
plummage MALE GOLDFINCHES...one sporting his full black cap and 2 others
forming them. Anyone else seeing this sign of approaching springtime??

Dawna 
Waitsfield, VT
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-----Original Message-----
From: Vermont Birds [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Al Merritt
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 11:56 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VTBIRD] February Firefly

On January 29th at about 1:30 in the morning I was looking out the window of
our front door toward the road in hopes of catching a glimpse of a very
noisy automobile/truck that had been frequenting our road in the wee hours,
racing its engine and speeding past the house. As I stood there staring into
the darkness I thought that I saw a tiny light blink out of the corner of my
eye. Was it the reflection of a house light? Couldn't be . . . the house was
in complete darkness. I gazed in that direction again and sure enough a tiny
sparkle of light came from the main beam along the front roof of our porch.
My God, I thought, it can't be a lightning bug it's the end of January and
14 degrees. I waited. In about 20 seconds it flashed again this time it was
closer and appeared to be hovering about 3 feet from my nose which by this
time was pressed against the pane. It is a firefly! I watched not believing
my eyes. How could this be? It continued with its flashing every 20 seconds,
occasionally returning to its spot on the beam then back to its hovering
position in the middle of the porch. I called to my wife and said "you're
not going to believe this but there is a firefly blinking on our porch". She
was not about to leave the warmth of her bed to see my "find", so the next
night she checked it out herself and saw exactly the same ritual that I had
witnessed. Ten days later this strange little insect is still making its
nightly appearance in the same location on our front porch. 
	Has anyone out there heard of or witnessed such a behavior in the
middle of winter? 

Al Merritt
W. Brattleboro, VT
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