Member of the Family

This phoebe - which I think might be a female because she never said a word - was spotted on the back porch this morning. Usually by this time there would be the constant noise of her mate out there shouting his name while she was busy refurbishing the nest and maybe even already laying a clutch of eggs. So - while I was delighted to see her - I'm a bit worried that something might have happened to her mate over the winter. We've lived in this house since 1981 and we have never not had a phoebe pair nesting under or on the back porch somewhere. I do hope she finds a man! In any case, I was very glad to see her. I've heard phoebes calling at a distance from the house, but it's very unusual not to have one right here shouting on the porch.

That rope, btw, is something The Husband picked up at the beach or somewhere and festooned the railing on the porch with. I can't stop him doing things like that so I've given up trying. If I bothered to watch some Photoshop instruction videos I might be able to fix the background and remove the damned thing, but so far I'm too lazy.