With the lack of snow most of the winter, I expected to see wildflowers blooming very early with mild winter, but instead they were later than normal. Even the other flowers were late as I found some snow glories ten days ago but a lot of years they are blooming in March.
Late Snow Glories
I have had other visitors at my duck box houses besides ducks, like a bee, mouse, squirrel, chickadee, nuthatch, bluebird and recently a northern flicker. I have had some dead trees blown down in the last storm, so I wonder if the flicker’s prior nesting site has fallen down and is looking for a new home. But the opening on the duck box is much bigger than the size they create in trees.
Northern Flicker
The daffodils have been open for more than a week now and they glowed in the brief sunshine today, but they might not feel so warm tomorrow night when it drops to 27 degrees.
Sunny Yellow Daffodils
This week old Hereford calf, who came about two weeks early, was the first calf of the season and at least it was a warm, sunny day when it was born with no snowflakes either.
Season’s First Calf
With the below freezing temperatures at night, I left more bird feeders out than I normally do in the summer, and one reason is because of the uninvited critter that visited last night. The pictured feeder did not remain hanging once the bear reached up with its paws and pulled the feeder down. The bear took down three of the bird feeders that were not high enough up in the air, and one was carried off by the bear and another was played with as the bear laid on its back trying to open the feeder. The bear also tried to get the other feeders that were hung higher and at least they were out of the bear reach when it was standing up (until a bigger bear comes along).
Feeder Stealing Bear
I finally saw some wildflowers open in the woods, but this bloodroot might have wished it waited a another week with snowflakes flying today and freezing temperatures the nest few nights.
Season’s First Bloodroot
The squirrel returned this evening is and sleeping in the duck house again tonight, but one of the other duck houses actually is being used by a wood duck. She has been laying eggs since the 10th and now she is sitting on the eggs. When she was laying the eggs, she covered them with the wood shavings so I didn’t see the eggs at first, but now she covered the eggs with her down feathers.
Duck Sitting on Eggs
It was a cold, wet morning and a squirrel took shelter in one of my duck boxes and it even brought a mouthful of oaks leaves in to create a blanket as it wrapped its tail around its nose to stay warm.
Squirrel Staying Warm
After the brief rain shower this morning, the skies still looked rather angry and now this afternoon, some rumbling from the nearby lightning can be heard.
Another Angry Sky
It was another chilly start to a spring day with the temperature down to 14 at sunrise and the geese and ducks left as my pond is frozen again.
Chilly Spring Sunrise
