![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Ah, spring in New England, ...
...aka observe the snow, it fornicates. Strong sun meant this morning's foolish white stuff was gone from the yard by afternoon despite sub-freezing air temps. Tonight's forecast low is 16°F with more snow possible, tomorrow might reach 40°F. None of that is out of spec for March (cf. the April Fool's Day Blizzard of '97) but I still disapprove.
This month rushed by so fast that I don't really remember how it came in, but it seems to be going out more like a llama (including the spitting) than a lamb. Our mid-month warm and sunny SoCal jaunt confused matters further, especially as it overlapped the EDT clock-change and made jet-lag even more special. Does anybody really know what time it is, does anybody really care. Came home to a surprise blooming crocus, surprise because I haven't planted any new ones for years. What even is time. It has since been joined by others and the dwarf irises I planted last fall, some of which are coming up not where I remember putting them. What even is space.
Suburbs of Despair spring signs start around Imbolc, with sunsets after 17:00 EST and hints of territorial birdsong. They're more than hinting now as the winter feeding flocks disperse to nest. I heard my FoY red-winged blackbird call this past weekend and the feeders are attracting pairs of other likely nesters (cardinals and mourning dovesalong with the usual chickadees, titmice, finches, and woodpeckers). Plenty of robins too but no flickers drilling in the yard yet. I expect I'll be seeing them once the ground warms up enough to activate the invertebrates.
As for batrachian revels, the wood frogs started calling in the vernal pool on the 18th (a remarkably warm Friday and first open-window day of the year), followed by neighborhood peepers a day or two later. The vernal pool has also been playing rest stop to the usual transient mallards and a bonus wood duck I briefly glimpsed this past Friday. None of those will stay long as the pool is (usually) dry by summer and thus not good duck habitat, last (wet) year notwithstanding.
Next month should bring the departure of the juncos and the arrival of swallows and flycatchers for bug season. And maybe some hyacinths and tulips to brighten things up, at least on the outside.
This month rushed by so fast that I don't really remember how it came in, but it seems to be going out more like a llama (including the spitting) than a lamb. Our mid-month warm and sunny SoCal jaunt confused matters further, especially as it overlapped the EDT clock-change and made jet-lag even more special. Does anybody really know what time it is, does anybody really care. Came home to a surprise blooming crocus, surprise because I haven't planted any new ones for years. What even is time. It has since been joined by others and the dwarf irises I planted last fall, some of which are coming up not where I remember putting them. What even is space.
Suburbs of Despair spring signs start around Imbolc, with sunsets after 17:00 EST and hints of territorial birdsong. They're more than hinting now as the winter feeding flocks disperse to nest. I heard my FoY red-winged blackbird call this past weekend and the feeders are attracting pairs of other likely nesters (cardinals and mourning dovesalong with the usual chickadees, titmice, finches, and woodpeckers). Plenty of robins too but no flickers drilling in the yard yet. I expect I'll be seeing them once the ground warms up enough to activate the invertebrates.
As for batrachian revels, the wood frogs started calling in the vernal pool on the 18th (a remarkably warm Friday and first open-window day of the year), followed by neighborhood peepers a day or two later. The vernal pool has also been playing rest stop to the usual transient mallards and a bonus wood duck I briefly glimpsed this past Friday. None of those will stay long as the pool is (usually) dry by summer and thus not good duck habitat, last (wet) year notwithstanding.
Next month should bring the departure of the juncos and the arrival of swallows and flycatchers for bug season. And maybe some hyacinths and tulips to brighten things up, at least on the outside.