The week that was...

 May 17, 2026

 This was Monday....

We had a torrential downpouring of hail. With the wind and cool temperatures, one could be excused for beginning to think that warmth would never come.

Gradually the week has warmed up, until the last two nights, when the temperatures have held above 10C (50F), and all my seedlings have stayed out on the verandah overnight. Today it is 23C (73F), and finally it is verandah weather for us as well as the plants!

A few things got accomplished. We replaced the rotting framing on raised garden bed #4 with thick cedar boards that Hubby milled for this purpose. Number 4 was the third bed we created either in 2017 or 2018, framed with poplar lumber the previous owner had left, so it has lasted pretty well. 

Over the last couple of warm days, leaves are coming out, blooms are swelling, and this morning my little plum tree has gone from bud,

To bloom....

 Our lilac bush is going to put on a really good show this year. There are tight little grape-like bud clusters all over it. 

 Back in the bush we saw moose tracks, and when the camera chips were checked...

On Bird Camera, a pretty White-throated sparrow, 

a Red-winged black-bird, his red epaulets showing up much better now, as the breeding season advances. 

Finally, "Are you looking at me??"

A curious Rose-breasted Grosbeak. 

Found while bush wandering, a beautiful blooming aromatic patch of Trailing Arbutus, and later in the week, on another hike,

lots of White trilliums. 

Most of the expected migrant birds are back, the Chestnut-sided warbler and Veery were the latest arrivals. Between the frog song at night from around the pond, and the bird music by day, there is no peace and quiet here any more!

Orange and yellow, black and white, red, blue and grey....

May 10, 2026

The migrants are filtering in, filling the yard and bush with song. Some warblers and some thrushes have arrived. Yellow-rumped, and Black-throated blue warblers; Hermit thrush, Wood thrush, Northern water thrush and Oven bird. Blue-headed vireos have been here for a week or so. 

In a flash of beautiful orange and black, a male Baltimore Oriole showed up early this week, hung around for a day, then another male showed up. They harassed each other a bit, decimated the oranges we put out for them, ignored the nectar, and have now moved on. How brilliantly orange they were, sitting up in the crab-apple tree, surrounded by spring-green baby leaves, in the morning sunlight. 

The results....

The male Rose-breasted grosbeaks arrived a few days ago, and have just started to sing around the clearing now that the girls are here as well. 

We spotted this guy, perched high in a cedar tree singing, with the morning sun warm on him. 

I splurged on some expensive finch food and filled a tube feeder. It goes down by thirds every day.

Purple finches, Gold finches and particularly Chipping sparrows are enjoying it. The Grosbeaks perch precariously on the little pegs and flutter their wings madly, trying to feed from it as well. 

A few pictures off of the Bird Camera.

A Blue jay, looking so jaunty in his spring duds...

One of the Orioles, looking puffed and chilled, even though the temperature wasn't too low that day.

 

A favourite of mine. White-throated sparrow. 

There is a flock of about a dozen hanging out, foraging beneath the tray and finch feeders every morning, accompanied by a couple of White-crowned sparrows.

Grackles and Red-wings are still here, and this morning a couple of Brown-headed cowbirds appeared among them. The Chickadees are scarce, no longer frequenting the feeders, and just one lone Junco was seen this morning. 

There have been very few days that the temperature has risen enough to even begin putting plants out to harden off, and even those warmer days have been accompanied by a brutal wind. There are a few asparagus spears poking up, and maybe tomorrow there will be enough to harvest. Some perennials have been moved, the raised beds have been broad-forked, and some lettuce and radish seeds are in. The broccoli and cabbage seedlings have been planted out with wind protection. They germinated and grew in the hot frame, so no hardening off was needed. The onion sets are slowly, slowly poking  green leaves up, but so far, no sign of the peas.  

Tightly sheathed green blossom buds are visible everywhere on the crab apple tree, always the first tree around to leaf out, and this is it's biennial year for bearing; but apple tree buds are just starting to visibly enlarge, too soon to see bloom buds, and one can just begin to vaguely see darker tips on the lilac bushes, where blooms will be. 

 By this date in May, black flies are usually out, but it is too cool, so no sign of them. We have had a fire every morning so far, and on several days, including today, have kept it going all day long. 

I guess this is what the old folks call a 'late spring'. 

 

 

 

"Hey-ey-ey snowflake".......

 May 2, 2026

Yes...snowflakes. The odd white fluff is drifting down today. 

'Nuff said.

We had a couple of warm, sunny days where tree blooms and spring shoots jumped...then it cooled right down and everything stalled. I did get my onion sets in early in the week, and if you look carefully now, you can see some bravely poking their heads up a tiny bit. Peas are in and the brassica bed is broad-forked, and the planting holes prepped. One of my baby plum trees will be a bevvy of blossom, as there are tons of little growing bloom bumps on it. The other, twice deer denuded, is showing nothing, still in shock from last spring.

We've had a busy week, started to make an inroad on the wood to be split and piled, and the big one...replacing our 20 year old solar panel array with new, bi-facial panels. Because these panels are bigger, new mounting holes had to be drilled in the aluminum frame, and it just happens that some of the needed holes lined up with the steel cross-bracing, so the panels are not aligned nicely like the old array, but hey.. it works! We ran into a few glitches, but Hubby has worked them out. 

So, from this...

 to this...

with the help of this...

The first Ruby-throated Hummer arrived here on the last day of April, I saw him a few times at the feeder, but he has since vanished. A pair of Blue birds showed up, hung around the clearing for a day, and have also since left. The White-throated sparrow is calling from the edges, and a Phoebe pair is working on a nest over the door of an outbuilding. Things are pretty quiet in the bird department, with this cool, breezy weather.

Last week's Bird Cam caught a few interesting posers. 

A Northern Flicker, 

Chipping Sparrow,

Red-winged Blackbird,

White-breasted Nuthatch,

and a Junco, giving the camera a side-eye.

I can see that there have been tufts pulled out of the wool roving ball tied up on the tree branch, so someone is busy making a nest somewhere.  

 All the garden plants are doing well under lights, most have been up-potted and it amazes me that I can still get everyone under light with a bit of rearranging, and a few flats of plants on window sills. 

Now that the panels are installed, it will be back to the 'chopping block' to complete filling the woodshed before the biting insects arrive.  

 

"The flowers that bloom in the spring, tra la...." and bird doins'

April 25, 2026

The temperatures are on the upswing. Day time temperatures are rising into the low teens C, (the 50's F) with nights still dipping into slightly freezing territory. Mother Nature is getting on with it. Buds are starting to swell on trees and bushes. There is a haze of colour in the tree tops, depending on the variety, a myriad of shades of green and red....and the first blooms are open. 

Tiny red 'star' flowers of beaked hazelnut, 

Red Maple buds starting to open.

Pussy willows tingeing green. Soon they will be fat bunches of pollen, and when the sun shines through them at just the right angle...

one will see them swarming with early pollinators. 

Last winter the township cleared a few trees along our road. They parked the wood chipper not too far away, and made a huge pile of wood chips. A gardener's bonanza! 

Hubby has made several trips with the tractor, bringing full bucket loads of chips, and has made a pile in the yard. I have been beavering them over via wheelbarrow to mulch my row of fruit trees.

flag shadow...

As the snow melted away, the damage on 3 out of 5 Mountain Ash trees, planted for the birds, became apparent. I wrapped the stems of the other trees but why, oh why did I not wrap these???

One day last week, we went for a short tour around the back roads, and lucked out, spotting this pair of Sand Hill Cranes in a field not too far away.

On another morning, seated at the breakfast table, whilst keeping my eye on the window, there was a sudden flurry as about a half dozen or so Red-winged blackbirds that had been sitting up in the crab apple tree catching the early warming rays left rapidly, en masse. Immediately, a larger bird alit where they'd been, and stayed long enough for us to ID a Sharp-shinned hawk. 

Yesterday, Hubby was coming in for lunch, and got delayed by the birds! He said the Tree Swallows had arrived and were flying around where the nest box pole had been last year. He immediately got it out, and was still affixing it at the base when the birds were landing on the box, investigating it.

Things are a-happening in this neck of the woods. It is the most exciting time of the year!

 

Winter, are you done now????

 April 18, 2026

So maybe, just maybe, we are on the up-hill side, although there are frosty night temperatures and snow in the forecast for early next week. With last week's grey skies, rain, and relatively mild temperatures, the snow has just disappeared. There are puddles of snow-melt/rain water in places we have rarely seen before in our 10 springs of residence here. Today's walk around to pick up the trail camera chips was an exercise in watching one's footing and avoiding the wet spots. There are vestiges of snow left here and there in the bush in shaded areas, and also some places where our snowshoes packed a trail.

Yesterday was a sublime sunny day with temperatures rising into the mid-teens C. (high 50's F), an augury of things to come! What a treat is was to have doors and windows open and come and go without having to don any extra layers of clothing.

Rivers and creeks in the area are running high. In some places, it is getting serious and folk are picking up sand bags to protect their properties. Up here, I am happy to see that the pond level has risen up to it's usual spring levels, flooding out at the north end. 

My crocuses have practically erupted out of dormancy, and the grass in the yard is greening up. 

 Deer have been dispersing out of their winter yards, and in the evenings, all those green shoots are attracting their attention in our yard. 

taken through the clothesline

Thursday night, on my way home late evening, the frog chorus was going so strongly in ponds and wet areas along my route, it joyfully hurt my ears!

Bird cam has collected a few shots of early migrants. A small flock of Juncos has made a stop-over here, and have been hanging out for a couple of weeks.

One of the earliest songsters is the Song Sparrow, and yesterday we heard several delineating their territories with song, 

Eastern Phoebes arrived mid-week, and one is trying to beguile a female to come join him and nest in the barn, while another is fluttering up under the eaves of the verandah, letting the females know that he has found a fine nesting spot. 

This bird is here all winter, and we see them once in a while, usually tagging along in a flock of Evening Grosbeaks. This Pine Grosbeak was checking out Bird Cam.

The dates on Bird Cam are correct, and the snow seen in the background is all gone now. 
 Last weekend we spotted another bird that is not native at this latitude, unless it has done a runner from someone's farm.

It is a Ring-necked Pheasant, and was walking across, then along this road without a care in the world. 

For a couple of mornings lately, a pair of Wood Ducks have been frequenting the pond, perched side by side on the floating turtle log in the rain.  

Today it is raining heavily again, so a good time to get caught up on all the inside stuff, as it won't be long until outside will be the place to be.  

"Old Man Winter....

April 10, 2026

This is starting to wear a little thin. Are you done yet?"

"No. Suck it up, Buttercup."

This morning.... from bare ground, back to white...for the second time in a week. Huge flakes of snow have been just 'a bustin'' down all morning. 

This was on Tuesday morning...

Hubby felt it necessary to do this...

and the township saw fit to plough the road. It was a lovely day though, the sun came out and we went for a snowshoe around,  the pad of new snow softening the hard crust on our trails.

As the warm afternoon wore on, the floating ice in the pond was melting before our eyes.

By Wednesday, the last vestiges of snow in the clearing were gone except for places where there had been snow piles. The shrinking ice pan in the pond evaporated and the turtle log is again free to float at the whim of the wind. 

We got busy bringing in the wood rounds from the last trees cut, to the pile behind the barn, preparatory to splitting and piling. Even on the north side of the barn, we were standing on bare ground. 

Last night we listened at dusk for the 'pweenting' of Timberdoodles, (AmericanWoodcocks), as they have arrived just south of us. A friend on whose farm they were heard, has also heard her first Eastern Phoebe.  No luck here, but coyotes were being quite vocal.

This morning, we awoke to bare ground, then it started to snow, and snow and snow. There is now a couple of inches of heavy wet stuff.

Well it can stay. I refuse to budge until this all melts away, again.