So I'm at the store and I was adjusting some merchandise by the front window. I was down below the window, bunny-proofing some merchandise, when I felt like I was being watched. I looked up and on the vine outside the window and there's a female house finch with a bill full of nesting material staring down at me.

Certain things for some people are signs of spring--arrivals of certain birds, blooming of flowers but a non-raptor nest building says spring to me. I noticed yesterday two males were chasing each other around the nest cup I put for the finches but I didn't anticipate them starting this early. Last year we had two broods of house finches. The first time they nested in the cup we put up the second time the pair made a nest on the vine right next to the cup. I'll have to try and get photos tomorrow.