"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!