BIRD NOTES: Phyllis McNeil of Turtlepoint called Thursday to
report three bluebirds in her front yard, the earliest date she’s
seen them in the winter. They like to sit on top of the flagpole,
too. Adding to the color palette of her yard are a pair of
cardinals. They put on a real show, she says; Everywhere the female
goes, the male follows her, from branch to branch, etc.

ON TRACK: Betsy Swanson of Smethport has a good suggestion:
“Please remind readers to take a moment to clean the slush/salt
residue from their car headlights. It will greatly improve the
brightness. I had to stop on the way to work early in the morning
because I couldn’t see very well. I pulled over and used a handful
of snow from a handy snowbank to wash off the lights then I was
back on track.”

LOOK UP: We scurried outside Friday morning when we had a call
that two sundogs were visible in the sky. We did see a fragment of
one of these rainbows but it was fading fast.

Our caller was Jerry Bator who reported these sundogs in the
Bradford sky, telling us they always appear in pairs and actually
can be seen all year long. He became knowledgeable about this
stellar phenomenon when he worked for the FAA.

The sundogs are caused by ice crystals in the atmosphere, and
are often seen around the same time as Cirrius clouds.

We know now where and when to look so hope to see many sundogs
in the future.

NASCAR NOTE: This item is apropos of nothing but we found it
interesting. A reader stopped by with a story on NASCAR in
Pennsylvania which mentioned some prominent racers being at the
Bradford Speedway many years ago:

“Junior Johnson beat Lee Petty to the checkered flag to win the
150-lap race on June 12, 1958 – the only one NASCAR held at the
half-mile dirt track in Bradford. He pocketed ,550 for the victory
which was part of a hot streak that saw Johnson win four times in a
five-race span,” the reports states.

The story, “NASCAR notables from Pennsylvania,” was written by
Scott Walsh and gleaned off the web.