January 10, 2021

This chapter examines the cardinals, which is a subtropical bird, living the year round in Mexico and the US southern states. The range of cardinals includes the entire eastern part of the US—and it is extending farther northward in recent years to Nova Scotia and central Quebec and Ontario. Aside from the cardinals, the squirrels, blue jays, chickadees, and Canada geese also made music in the freezing conditions of the author's backyard. Another sound that can be heard from the backyard is the hooting of the freight trains on the Ithaca Central Railroad, transporting rock salt from the Cayuga Salt Mine for use on the winter roads throughout the Northeast of the country. Lastly, there were the concerts of Cornell bell tower chimes that have been played over the holiday season. The author then explains how the repeated ice ages of the last two million years created the gorges of Ithaca.