Home construction is up in my neighborhood, or I should say, in my yard.

It could be a scene out of "The Big Year," the bird-watching comedy with Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson. The usually quiet Page Springs campground just south of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is bustling with birders, mostly middle-aged folk in earth tones and floppy hats with binoculars and cameras dangling.

If you want to strike terror into the heart of a developing birder, shout "Peeps!"

An aged Ponderosa pine that towers over the parking lot at TouVelle State Park is pockmarked with so many thousands of little holes that even seasoned birders have to wonder how acorn woodpeckers developed this tactic for building a year-round larder.

Conifer diversity is great in our region, and I'll bet many of you have stopped along the highway to gather foot-long sugar pine cones. Cones often are used as decorations, and we have a tremendous variety to choose from.

The light was fading fast on a winter-shortened day, and the frost that never quite melted was already repairing its losses.

In January, it was time to drag out the ladder and prune the apple trees. It may have been cold, but the chore has its rewards. The property looks different from the top of a ladder, and the slow pace of winter offers a different perspective.

Ashland birder Harry Fuller steps out of his car with binoculars in hand, ready to scope a field near the Medford airport for one of the Rogue Valley's more unusual winter visitors.

Golden-crowned sparrows arrive in my yard each year on Sept. 18 plus or minus two days. I buy my black oil sunflower seeds the week before in anticipation of their arrival, and they never disappoint. There are always about 20 that line up for breakfast. Two weeks later, a modest collection of about 10 dark-eyed juncos descend from the hills to join them. Again, I can set my calendar by their arrival. These are predictable events.

Have you ever wished you had special powers, say the ability to leap tall buildings or X-ray vision? Most of us have had such daydreams, but this only happens in comic books. Right?

Marilyn Patterson has entered the Oregon Outdoors Wild Bird Photo Contest twice. Last year she took second place for a photo of a Laysan albatross chick shot on Sand Island in Midway Atoll. This year she won the whole thing, wowing judges with her ethereal photo of a reclusive long-eared owl taken in the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Northern California.

Groups of bird watchers heading out all over the U.S. this month for the 113th annual Christmas Bird Count are helping plot what appear to be significant global trends.

Today is the last day to vote for your favorite entries in the 2012 Oregon Outdoors Wild Bird Photo Contest.

Today is the last day to enter the 2012 Oregon Outdoors Wild Bird Photo Contest. As of Thursday, 272 photos had been uploaded to our contest website at www.mailtribune.com/birdcontest.

Snow is beautiful, if you don't have to drive. Snow is beautiful, if you are inside a warm, cozy house looking out. For the more adventurous, snow is beautiful standing upon a pair of skis, just as long as there is a warm, cozy house waiting at the end of the outing.

The 2012 Oregon Outdoors Wild Bird Photo Contest is entering its final week, and as of Wednesday, 154 photos had been uploaded to our contest website at www.mailtribune.com/birdcontest.

The 2012 Oregon Outdoors Wild Bird Photo Contest is entering its third week, and as of Thursday, 100 photos had been uploaded to our contest website at www.mailtribune.com/birdcontest.

The 2012 Oregon Outdoors Wild Bird Photo Contest is under way, and as of Thursday, 38 photos had been uploaded to our contest website at www.mailtribune.com/birdcontest.

Last year, local steelworker Curtis Mix won the Oregon Outdoors Wild Bird Photo Contest with a photo of a yellow warbler taken in his backyard. The year before, Grants Pass x-ray technician Lance Coenen won with a photo of a hummingbird siphoning nectar from a zinnia in his wife's backyard flower garden.

A Douglas fir grows in my yard. It's one I planted soon after moving to the property years ago. Now it's more than 30 feet tall and doing quite well.