I began work on a biological survey of a newly acquired refuge for the Avalonia Land Conservancy today, but it turns out that the property, which was given to Avalonia by the Pequot Audubon Society, was a place I actually knew better than I could have imagined, since it was the woods and wetlands next to my daughter and son-in-law's house. My grandkids and I had slogged through this boggy forest countless times without knowing it was actually a wildlife sanctuary, but at least one Tufted Titmouse seemed to have figured out the truth and proceeded as if it owned the place. I don't know what it managed to glean from the Birch branch it combed—I'm guessing a frozen spider—but whatever turned up on the menu, the bird seemed quite happy about finding a meal. The food item, on the other hand, remained stoic.