A Sign of Spring!

[vfem]

Gorgeous Steve! We have daffodils up already, and I'm so excited I can hardly believe it!!!

 

[digitS']

I am afraid that since it is now snowing and subzero weather has been prophetized, those snowdrops won't be opening for several more days and I will just have to enjoy the earlier picture of them.

Believe it or not, LuvsDirt, the North Idaho College teams are known as the "Cardinals."

From those eBird maps one can see that cardinals have visited neither Wyoming nor Montana, let alone Idaho!

Someone must have been very impressed with those red birds long ago when the school was founded .

Steve

 

[desertcat]

Thanks for sharing eBirds. It may cut down on my phone bill since I usually call my dad at odd hours with such random thoughts!

The birds around here that really signal spring to us are the return of the turkey vultures and the Mississippi kites. Although, we had a pair of kites that never left this year. Definitely strange to look up in December and see a "summer" bird.

The other pretty reliable sign of spring is when the mesquite starts to leaf out...it HATES waking up in a cold room!

 

[Collector]

BRRRR Steve, what happened to our nice days that had me thinking of spring. we will have to wait a little longer I guess.

 

[mom2two06]

Despite a few days in the upper 60s last week, this morning there was so much ice layered on the car I couldn't get the sliding door open. Still, seeds have been ordered and i will be starting indoor plants soon! I know it's coming.. I have been aching to open the pool for months now!

 

[vfem]

We have a group of dark colored almost black ducks out on the pond making a pit stop during migration. My pekins don't seem happy with them, but they out run my ducks by an amazing speed!

I need to go get pictures so we can figure out what they are!

 

[chris09]

These days, DesertCat, I have a good view from this computer of 2 tall walnut trees across the road. Just after New Years Day, I was surprised to see a robin in the top of one of those trees on 2 different days!

I think he was seriously confused as to why he was even around here - it had been a couple of months since I'd seen any of his buddies. It is now nearly 2 more months since I saw that one!

Amazingly, seeing a robin during mid-winter is not all uncommon. Certainly, it doesn't happen every year and with a very, very wintery November here -- any sane robin got the heck out of this country before winter even set in!

I think that they must have be kind of driven out and they may not go far all at once. I know that I have often seen robins during the winter along the Columbia River, on down to Portland and along the Willamette River in Oregon. All this country is at much lower elevation than here.

By the looks of this map from Cornell University, people in many parts of the US are probably laughing at us, pining for robins. (eBird, Cornell) I have set the map for January, usually the severest winter month. The lighter green squares just seem to indicate the odd robin. But, you can see that up to 25% of birdwatchers in quite a bit of the country are reporting robins in January.

Steve

I live in N.E. Ohio and my wife saw about 5 Robins last week and we just got 4'' of snow last night.

They must have read the same weather report I did.


Chris

 

[digitS']

I saw 2 robins !! Yep, they were in the yard across the road . . . the snow has melted around the house over there and the poor things were scratching around in the leaves - would be hard-pressed to find a frozen worm . Warmed up enuf to rain off the snow that fell overnight and I've moved the 1st snapdragon seedlings to the sunny south window . . .

Fingers and Toes
by Joseph O'Connor

weather,Weather,WEATHER,
THAW freeze, Thaw freeze, thaw freeze

I can't keep up with this
My sinus is in shock
My body just cant cope

I hate our cloudy days
Especially the rain
It turns the day so grey
And makes my mood shift blue.

And through it all
no glimpse or ray of sun
I just haven't had the hope.

WEATHER, Weather, weather
sun light, Sun Warmth, SUN HEAT.

I'm going someplace warm
And never coming back.
If you want to find me
I'll be in Disney World.

At least down there
They always have the sun.

I want to leave but
I'm frozen to the ground.
My body cannot move.

 

[thistlebloom]

Yaaay! I guess if the robins are here spring can't be too far behind,
huh?
We didn't get rain yet, so far just stubborn snow. I had to drive over to Spirit Lake hardware to pick up some drywall screws for my husband (doing a small remodel for a neighbor ) and it was snowing and sloppy there and back, so I was having a little pity party. But now the sun is out :coolsun !
It's amazing how linked to the sunshine my moods can be.
We have an extra foot+ over all the beautiful bare spots we had a week or so ago, but I hear this weekend should be 40ish.
(To tell a little secret I was kinda hoping for stormy weather yesterday
and today... you know..."in like a lion, out like a lamb". I figured if it happened that way, we'd get it over with, and spring could just barrel on in!)
Well I guess that bit of sunshine was my birthday present( I knew I could work that in somehow ) I may not be getting any smarter, but I sure am getting older....

 

[lesa]

Happy Birthday, thistlebloom!!! The wind is howling here today and below zero tonight! Enough already.
I love the line in the poem, that says "I want to leave, but I'm frozen to the ground." That says it all!!