Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Spring

It is definitely spring. The first broad scatter of dandelions are out, and all the bulb flowers - tulips, crocuses, daffodills. The callary pears are edging into leaf, most of their flowers gone, while the other flowering trees are in their prime but for dogwoods which are just filling the roadsides with their flights of white and pink, grace notes in the dark green. Other trees are leafing, too.

The birds know it, too. First, all the seasonal migrants have gone, and come. No more juncos - hello to redwing females, to the flickers, and to the grackles. (It's true none of these are summer-only residents, but they tend to flock elsewhere in the winter and show up right around here only when spring comes.) In fact, the redwings are dueling madly for the territory around the pond; where three were last year I saw six this morning- three in position, two at the pond and one at the wet, reedy spot down by the bridge; and three more jockeying around the periphery, displaying and calling and chasing each other. There's another further along the creek, too. Two females at least - they're so much harder to spot.

1 Comments:

At 10:29 AM, April 21, 2011 Anonymous Mark had this to say...

Spring came a few week ago down here in NW Georgia. We live on a mountain, or what passes for one around here, and it's interesting to see the variation in stages of leafing and flowering as you drive up. The elevation change is only about 500 feet, but based on some very rough estimates, that's about like going 100 miles north. In any event, the dogwoods are a good bit past their peak bloom, and the flowering bulbs are only a memory. Some of the azaleas have already faded as well. The oaks are nearing full leaf, although the caterpillars have already devastated them. The hickory leaves are slowly peeking out.

 

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