Wildlife Sightings

We really enjoy watching the wildlife on the farm, noting their comings and goings and gauging the seasons by them.  In the fall of course we watch the game animals with special interest in hunting, but we also note the migration of owls and hawk, eagles and the small birds that begin to move through the area.  Over winter and in the spring we are watching for changes in wildlife that mark changes as the season warms.  We know that we see the first geese of the year around Valentines day and we watch for other birds to make their way back to the farm beginning around the end of February and into March.  We have a family tradition of noting the first robin sighting.  The rule is that you have to announce it to the family or it doesn't count.  You can't say "well I saw one last week" when someone else announces it, because if you don't announce it first everyone knows that it doesn't count.  This year Dan saw the first robin.  It was a couple of weeks ago while he was out doing his morning chores.  He came in and triumphantly announced that he had seen the first robin of this year!  My standard remark is that he must be mistaken, and when I finally see the first one then I make the "official" announcement. This starts the same banter about earlier mistaken identification and the verbal jousting which somehow Sharon doesn't seem to enjoy as much as we do.  Last week the boys were cutting across the pasture coming back from skating on the wetlands and saw a jackrabbit.  We actually greet jackrabbit sightings with more interest and excitement than bald eagle sightings since we see bald eagles much more often than we see jackrabbits. We only have a jackrabbit sighting every few years. Sometimes we see them in the fall and sometimes in the spring, and when we see them we will see them around for a while after the first sighting and then won't see them again for a couple of years.  I know that jackrabbits used to be very prevalent in our area from talking with some of the old timers who tell of big jackrabbit hunting drives that folks in the area put on, but they are an honest to goodness rarity around here now.  According to the IA DNR, the change in farming practices from small grains and hay of the past to mono-crop today has removed the jackrabbit's preferred habitat.  I'm assuming that before the hay and grain farms that the jackrabbit wasn't as prevalent?  I don't know.  I do know that I'd like to see them more than we do now, but then maybe it wouldn't be as exciting when we spot one.  But I guess I could live with that.