Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Signs of Hope

The Good and the Bad

Spring is on the way. The signs are clear.

The crocus are blooming:


They are such happy little flowers and oh, so welcome.

Not so welcome is the returning horde of blackbirds. They have come by the hundreds--grackles, redwing blackbirds, and starlings. I don't mind them in general, but they attack my bird feeder by the dozens, guzzling all the seed I put out for the little noble birds who've suffered the winter here. I have taken to scanning the trees to see if any of the huge flock is perched there watching, before I put the feed out for the little snowbirds, sparrows, junkos, cardinals and wrens. The bluejays are ever present, and make their usual grab for anything that looks edible, but they do not match the number of greedy blackbirds. It was a bit quieter today, so perhaps the bigger flock has moved on.  I didn't get any pictures of them this year, but here is one from last year. All those black spots are not leaves, they are birds roosting in the trees. 
The snow is melting fast, not so much by warmer temperatures as it is from the sun. Already higher on the horizon, the sun is quite warm and bright.  Just for contrast, here is my driveway snow pile from a couple weeks ago.
Here it is today:
And the front lawn? 
Quite a contrast. 
I like green better, and there's more to come as all the plants start to grow again.

The bad news? There's a possibility of snow in the forecast for the end of the week. 

Enough already. 

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:44 PM

    We had a very warm week and now it's back in the 40s, which is normal for March. But the sun is bright and it feels like spring.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We get those flocks of birds at the farm too. Reminds me of Hithcocks "The Birds". But they move on fast enough.

    I'm enjoying the melting too. Cold here today and we did have a dusting. Im sure the sun will melt it soon. Love your pretty little flowers. Nothing here yet.

    ReplyDelete