We had a warm, beautiful day on Saturday with temperatures reaching the 60's. It was so nice to feel warm air and sunshine again. I used this opportunity to survey the far back to see what has been going on for the last month or so since I took a look. The normal effects of winter were everywhere. Lots of downed branches, although no huge ones. Also fence posts and rails had fallen down probably in part to the weather and in part to the deer.
The ground was very soggy and muddy where it wasn't covered with crunchy snow. However, among the snow and the mud, there were signs that spring is on its way including my first snowdrop bloom.
Here are a few things I saw this week
during a Second Look.
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| Shallow snow covered much of the lower back. There was a crunchy layer of ice on top of it that made it fun to walk on. |
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| There was abundant evidence that the deer spent the winter with us. |
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| Among the leaves and weeds, I saw my first snowdrop. |
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| Closer to the house, I saw daffodil leaves emerging. No crocus however. |
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| On Friday, we had several bluebirds visiting the suet feeder and had some good sightings of both males and females. Notice of muted colors of the female on the left compared to the bright blue of the male on the right. (That's a male house finch behind it.) |
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| The big surprise was the bluebird's nest in on of the nest boxes. I'm not sure when it was built, but I do know that I cleaned out the box last fall. It's too early to lay eggs, so I'm not sure what's going on. |
