Winter LIfe

Early January morning but life here is stirring. Early lawn weeds are beginning (sparse, scattered) blooms,  bright yellow dandelion Taraxacum, white shepherd's purse Capsella, even a few henbit Lamium amplexicaule. In the dormant trees, maples, elms and cottonwoods bright green balls of mistletoe Phoradendron are beginning to produce white masses of flowers. It will be interesting to see who comes to pollinate these. Small flies? Moths? Butterflies? On concrete porches of Brillhart Hall there is one small yellow sorrel Oxalis blooming (with lemon flavored leaves) and on the porch of the dining hall there is one yellow-flowered medic Medicago, with leaves and flower head like a small clover.
  On each of three bright yellow dandelion flowers on the south side of the Research Building I placed one drop of honey. Within 15 minutes honeybees visit, one small flower fly Syrphus, a few tiny wasps and tiny flies also. I watch the honeybees and see one black (German race) displace two yellow (Italian race). The German race of honeybees is reputed to be more energetic and aggressive.. harder for beekeepers to manage.. but producing more honey. 
It would be interesting to do some observations and see if darker black honeybees consistently displace brighter yellow honeybees on preferred flowers.
Around the buildings the southern exposures attract a big leaf-footed bug  Acanthocephala and a few large spur-throated grasshoppers Acrididae fly heavily away. The small meter square cement porch on the SE corner of the Research Building is a meet and greet place for all sorts of winter active bugs. One small milkweed bug Lygaeus, a small red ant (Formica?) one small weevil, one small flea beetle Altica. 
 Greatest diversity of notable life stirring are the birds.Turkey vultures are the easiest to notice. They are soaring over the forest and along the lakeshore, looking for a lift. They are joined by a murder of crows (6-7) patrolling the forest. One osprey, beautiful white and black in the morning light joins the vultures. Lots of smaller woodland birds. A couple of juncos feed energetically on the bird seed I scattered on the sidewalk. Sparrows, warblers, bright red headed woodpecker. (I need to study up on my bird ID. I am not good with most spp.)