We noticed yesterday afternoon while driving through an industrial area en route to the airport, there was a real convocation of crows; perhaps not quite yet a murder. Crows were lofting through the heavily overcast sky, and when we passed a nearby forested area they were perched everywhere on the leaf-bare treetops adjoining the highway corridor. It's not unusual, for some reason, to frequently see hordes of crows in certain areas. They're fascinating to watch. Just like blackbirds in a mass coordinated flight, or pigeons sitting by the dozen on an overhead wire, a neat, even space between each one.

We did notice, in the last few weeks that crows had begun to return to the ravine. Nowhere near the numbers we had seen yesterday, but in little familiar packs. We see them flying over the rooftops, and over the forest canopy. When I used to put out unshelled peanuts regularly throughout the ravine trails in quite specific areas, squirrels became so accustomed to the daily offerings we'd sometimes find them stationed in those places, awaiting our routine walk and deposit.

We'd also see crows following us then alighting to take possession of peanuts left behind. They're so incredibly intelligent, we'd watch as a crow would pick up a peanut, then with it in its beak, bang it down hard on a rock or a log to crack it open and retrieve the treasure inside. We no longer carry peanuts into the ravine. Now we buy natural peanuts already shelled and put them out daily in little piles at the front and at the side of the house. Squirrels, juncos, chickadees and crows come by to claim their portions on a regular basis, entertaining Jackie no end. Jillie pays them no mind.

So, out in the forest this afternoon we watched crows soaring overhead and heard their distant mob cries. Often that's a signal that an owl is about perching somewhere being harassed by the crows. We've never known them to do that to a pileated woodpecker, though once we saw a cardinal being circled by cursing, cackling crows, not just an owl.

It's a mild day, following on an earlier mild-temperature day. Which gave us some light rain yesterday afternoon and evening. Both the temperature and the rain served to eliminate the snow that had been sifted onto the trees in the forest by last week's snowstorm. The snowpack is beginning to melt on the forest floor, and the creek at the bottom of the ravine is running wide and deep and muddy and loud.

It's early days yet, but spring is most definitely in the air. On one of the side trails, Jackie suddenly stopped and began barking and growling. Jillie caught up to him and joined the fuss. We could see nothing that might have arrested their attention, looking into the forest. Nothing moved. With all the snow it's easy enough to detect an animal on the move, but there was nothing. Which doesn't rule out the possibility that they could detect quite easily with their finer-tuned senses what we could not. Perhaps the presence of a coyote. But it passed, and so did we.

It was pleasant to be in the snowy woods, as usual, and even more so that it was so mild, just touching on freezing at 0C, that we were quite comfortable. Good footing on the ascents and descents. And the entire forested ravine to ourselves. On rare occasions the atmosphere is such that an eerie sound reaches us. Not quite eerie, perhaps more nostalgic than anything. Today, the sound of a train horn wafted into the forest, faint but unmistakable. We hear it, like a ghost of the past on rare occasions. There are no train tracks nearby.

Soon after our return home we left the puppiest alone, disconsolate that we would do such a cruel thing to them, and went out to do the weekly supermarket shopping. From the newspapers we'd read earlier in the morning, with updates on the COVID-19 virus epidemic, it seems that in various places shelves have been ransacked of their goods. Particularly so with non-perishable items, paper products, and hygiene products. Panic is beginning to set in, here and there. Helped along no little bit by public health authorities who offer cautions and advice, and tell people to stock up on food staples and prescription medications.

Always having a measure of non-perishable food items on standby is never a bad idea and people should, if they can, do that regularly. But stocking up on prescription drugs is illegal and therefore not possible. Taking a prescription to a pharmacy will ensure that a month's supply or so is meted out on a regular basis; no pharmacist, by law, will honour a request by anyone to release a larger measure of drugs when the pharmacy's records show that there is still have enough of a client's medication left to obviate the need to secure more.