The flying squirrels outside my bedroom window are getting braver and braver. As it's warming up in Minnesota, we are opening our windows and we (or I should say I) can hear their chirping. Non Birding Bill never seems to hear it. I can't seem to get my camera to focus on them in the pitch black, I'll have to work on that. As soon as I spread a little seed for them on the window ledge they come right for it. I bet it would just be a matter of time before I could hand feed them. The dude to the right was sitting right above my window and posed for a few shots. He kept munching away at the nuts even with the flash on. Most of the photos turned out a little blurry, but with a little practice and a little positive reinforcement towards the squirrels, I bet I can do better. I love that I get flying squirrels while living in a busy metro area.

I took Cinnamon with me to Adventure Publications today. I needed to go over the proofs for the 2007 Birding Calendars (Illinois had the coolest cover) and talked about my City Bird Country Bird book (looks like it will be coming out this summer instead of this spring) and a few other ideas I have cooking. I thought Cinnamon just wanted to come along to spend some time with me since I have been doing so much traveling without her. Alas, she was just using me as a pawn in one of her many schemes. When I stepped into the bathroom, she took the opportunity to talk to my publisher about a Disapproving Rabbits book. Gordon (above) was a good sport and listened to her ideas and then tried to tell her as gently as possible that he just wasn't familiar with the rabbit market and wasn't prepared to invest in the idea a this time. I think she would have had a better chance had she not insisted on a $20,000 advance for the book. She took the rejection hard, I was concerned that her disapproval would wipe out half the staff at Adventure, but Gretchen, my editor saved the day with a handful of parsley. Poor dejected bunny. She's currently drowning her sorrows in a bag of Broccoli Wokly.