I think we are here! Spring, finally, Part 2;)
Then it started to happen, those small bits of open water! The ice started to go, albeit slowly, I do love the ice dragon holes. Do they look like that to you? It’s a wonderful feeling to see that open water!
Our trip down to the barn past the Narrows Lock revealed way more open water and a lone Mute Swan!
The yard birds were getting feistier as well with the influx of Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds, they have the regular woodpeckers battling for space at the feeders! Someone’s cranky;)
The Snowbirds are all on their way back it seems, a sure sign? I was looking at some mists across the lake when I caught this beauty out of the corner of my eye-Yellow Shafted Northern Flicker!
When Monday the 13th rolled around things were looking even better! Spring might just be coming after all! Ice shelf was slowly sinking…
Then the rain started, better than snow of course, and the melter of all remaining snow, we welcome it! The birds, well, maybe not so much! I sat in the alcove and watched them!
I could hear the stream roaring and running down the hill along the road. Walked out to make sure nothing was washing away, last years bad experience of torrential rain and heavy snowpack was not good!
The beauty is there, a single raindrop, or a bubble in the stream, Spring…but we could use some sun, just saying!
I came across what I thought might be a Swamp Sparrow, as it was by the swamp, but no, a Song Sparrow. It had quite the voice! Aptly named! Ha!
The Yellow Bellied Sapsucker showed up, drumming very loudly on his favourite dead maple branch! We saw the last of the Evening Grosbeaks, they are headed back to the northern coniferous forests for the Spring/Summer. I look forward to their return in the late Fall!
The LBB’s are back, little bright birds! The Purple Finches are gorgeous, and the Goldfinches are starting to pop! That yellow! I was really surprised after it snowed at the number of Dark-eyed Juncos that showed up, there were dozens of them! They had all but disappeared! They vary so much in colour from light gray to almost black!
Then the sun came back…:) Glorious sun! A passing beaver tail slapped the water multiple times, telling me to back off? Whoa buddy! I’m just sitting here:)
With the warmer air came the swirling fog. Warm air, cold ice and water = mists. I love to watch them move and swirl across the lake. It’s as if they have a life of their own, mists dancing on the shoreline…
Who do I spy swimming this way? The Trumpeter Swan family!
They came over for a look, from a distance as I went down to the water… I really do think these are the mailbox swamp swans!
The juvenile can only be told by its slight beak colouration! Such gorgeous creatures! With only a bit of ice left in the bay they have free run of the entire lake! Almost gone…
I was dreaming of these kinds of reflections, not yet! Waiting on the sun, from a previous Spring:)
Stay tuned for the ice-free day and otters and turtles and sun! Spring, finally, Part 3:)