We have leaves!!! and flowers, and bugs…forgot about those back flies…:( Did I mention hummingbirds? :)
More for the hummingbirds to eat! I was buzzed on the 30th while I was out in the garden but then nothing until yesterday! Yeah! It all comes so quickly, the returning birds and bugs, and flowers! I was getting chomped on by black flies this morning trying to catch a few more shots of our elusive hummingbird! Back inside for coffee:)
Everyone is showing off…”Ready ladies? ♫♪♫Lalalalalalalala ♪♫♪…How was that? Marry me?” I’ll keep trying;) He will;) Don’t you hate it when someone gets in your face?! Ha! Rude Goldfinches;)
The female Purple Finches are cranky as well;) Ha! NO SHARING!
As I sat a day last week drinking my morning coffee, I noticed some rather largish bird movement in one of the maples a fair way away. I grabbed the camera and was surprised to see a Wood Duck pair sitting. He was chatting up a storm. They flew to a tree closer to the lake, I will have to go investigate to see if there is a nest cavity! Before all the leaves pop!
The feeders are busy with the returning Purple Finches. The Goldfinch colours are popping! And one morning there he was…Mr. Rose-breasted Grosbeak! 🙂 Sitting, waiting his turn, so polite!
It’s noisy outside…until a large shadow flies over and everyone scatters! The Ospreys are back, fishing and flying! Dinner to go!
They are a joy to watch, such amazing flyers. Banking, turning on a dime and diving! I can’t keep up!
They don’t come up empty-handed, clawed (?) often!
The Mewberries are enjoying the warmer days, feeling frisky when it’s windy, and trying to hunt the red squirrels. They get yelled at a lot, but “One day!” they say “One day…” 🙂 Ha!
It’s the excitement of Spring, the wild cavorting when you are chasing that elusive wind-blown leaf and you stumble upon the patch of catnip! Down at the barn Alice is busy patrolling as well:)
I decided to wander out the road before the black flies started to see what wildflowers might be poking their heads out, but I ran into something way cooler and weird, of course! Anything called Tongues of Fire has to be cool!
According to Wikipedia: Gymnosporangium clavariiforme (tongues of fire) is a species of rust fungus which alternately infects Juniperus and hawthorns. It was SO bright! Hard to miss on the juniper bush! Not much colour in the bush right now so this stands out! In junipers, the primary hosts, G. clavariiforme produces a set of orange tentacle-like spore tubes called telial horns. These horns expand and have a jelly-like consistency when wet. The spores are released and travel on the wind until they infect a hawthorn tree. I went back the next day to show Mike, and it was nearly all gone! Dried up, that quickly!
Only one branch remained with the wet horns! You could blink an eye and miss it! First time seeing it!
I was also rewarded with the sound of Yellow Rumped Warblers, that I followed, no photos, fast little buggers, but as I walked following them I heard something else! An Eastern Towhee was trying to impress a lady. I don’t get to see the females often, so I stuck around and listened for a while! The song is a short drink your “teeeeea” lasting around one second, starting with a sharp call (“drink!”) and ending with a short trill “teeeeea”. She is stunning! They were both tail wagging!
He had some fancy pants he was showing off...Daddy Cool;) You have to smile and laugh:)
I did find a few flowers along the road, mostly Large White Trilliums and Trout Lilies. They are coming…slowly! The Hepaticas are starting to bloom!
It is such a wondrous thing to see, emerging from the leaf litter…Spring:)
The Purple Finches are eating the Hophornbeam (Ironwood) seed pods! The maples are dropping their red flowers already, and we have one Serviceberry blooming too!
The Red Winged Blackbird ladies have showed up…more showing off from the guys!
I keep telling Mr. Rose Breasted Grosbeak that his ladies will appear soon as well! The locals, holding their own against the invading hordes;) The Woodpeckers lose patience with the Grackles and occasionally there are some fisticuffs, but mostly everyone does get along;)
I set up a smaller glass jar feeder for the little guys and they have been enjoying that!
OK, enough of this Spring novel for now! I will evoke a plea to the weather Gods for some nice calm wind-free days to paddle, and I need to stop by and check on our Trumpeter Swans nesting, and the herons! So many birds to check on! Not to mention dragonflies and other fabulous bugs, snakes and tortugas! Stay tuned for a wildflower/bug trip with some of the Group W Bench;) It was so much fun! I’ll leave you with flirting finches;)
