Spring's Awakening

Now that spring has sprung in our half of the world, above the equator, I find myself vigilantly searching for signs of its "springing".

Last Friday marked the vernal equinox (day and night are the same length) - the official beginning of spring - and the sun shone brightly, but a very cold wind chilled our bones.

A week ago, on St. Patrick's Day, our temperature reached a glorious 59ºF/15ºC, and on the Sunday and Monday before that I was able to spend a few hours doing clean-up work in the garden. What a joy to feel the sun on my back and breathe the fresh air!

This past Sunday brought a few snow showers, and the arctic north wind has persisted since then, keeping me indoors. I'm deceived by the bright sunshine, and go out to snap a few photos, but am chilled through within seconds and hurry back into the warmth of the house. Such is March.

But there are signs of spring's awakening.....

The redwinged blackbirds are back!

They clean up the seed beneath the feeders, with help from a few grackles. The female redwings have brown stripes and look quite different from the males. (click photo to enlarge for a better view).

They spook easily and fly to the old elm in the hedgerow across the road.

These photos were taken on March 11th and most of the snow has melted since then,

........but there are still patches here and there.

We had a treat on St. Patty's Day when our oldest daughter came up from NY City to spend a couple of days with us. On Wednesday she and I walked down to the river to explore, and found a couple of Canada geese. We've been hearing them honk and seeing them fly over the river for a few weeks now. They obligingly stayed long enough for me to snap a few pictures.

Usually they fly away immediately, but these two let us get a little closer before they took off.

There's a nice view of the farm from over there.

We also took a nice long walk along our road which takes us past a couple of places that keep horses. The dairies are gone from the farms close to us and horses have taken the place of cows on two of those farms.

These two beauties were happy to say hello.

A little further along we found more horses enjoying the mild morning.

Back home on a different day I quickly grabbed the camera to catch a shot of another neighbor out for a jaunt with the horse and buggy.

It's almost time to take the winter covering off the roses. Some have already been removed. And there's still plenty of clean-up work to do.

On the first day of spring I went exploring with my camera and found buds on the lilacs.

We won't see blooms until May.

The cutleaf maple is budding. This photo was taken on a cloudy day....

....and this one on a sunny day. What a difference in the color of the sky!

These clusters of buds will open into flowers around mid April.

The brave little snowdrops bloom alone still.....

....but yesterday I finally spotted crocus shoots emerging beside the daffodil spears.

And the tulips are growing!

In the veggie garden this morning I found garlic pushing up out of the ground. I tried to push it back in but the ground was frozen. Even the surface dirt was too frozen to rake some around the bulbs. There'll be no planting peas here for a few weeks yet, Carol!

We've been seeing the wild turkeys most mornings in the field next to the house.

The toms are displaying but I haven't caught a picture of them strutting their stuff yet.

Cowbirds are visiting the feeders. This one is a male.

And starlings are always after an easy meal. Although they sometimes feed in flocks in the yard, luckily we don't get too many at the feeders.

I sighted our first two robins on March 18th.

A sure sign that spring has sprung!

Just before I took this photo, Jasmine, in full "spring fever" mode, had made a flying dash across the yard and raced up the maple tree. I ran for my camera, but by the time I got back outside she was sitting on the ground. She did pose nicely though. :)

The barn kitties are spending more time outside...another definite sign of spring. They found sheltered warmth in the sunshine by the back door this afternoon.

We witnessed this spectacular sunset two weeks ago, and I'm watching another one as I type this. I doubt it will give us quite the impressive display of this one though. Normally they're more subdued at this time of year, but the softer colors are beautiful too.

Spring is springing gradually so far, but a couple of weeks into April will bring green grass and more!

We have much to look forward to!

Happy spring everyone!

(and happy fall/autumn to those of you who are under the equator) :)