A beautiful spring day! Plenty of sunshine, a few clouds and a light breeze - couldn't be more perfect.
Went for a morning walk down to the creek, all of the rain has really soaked the ground - even the overflow channels are full. It's been very cool and rainy for the past several weeks, but the temperatures have begun to warm up the past few days, and as a result the mosquitoes are unbelievably thick!
Bluebirds and Tree Swallows have taken over the nesting boxes. Bluebirds are very territorial, but I never realized how much so until this morning when I saw the male take on two Starlings twice his size and drive
them from a puddle beneath the bird house where they were trying to take a drink.
The Blue Flax is beginning to bloom, along with the Bitterroots and a few Buttercups. The Lupine are sprouting quickly but no flower spikes as of yet. The wet weather has delayed the blooming season considerably, although it will be great for mushrooms and other fungi. Found some nice shelf fungus on an old, dead cottonwood trunk.
The cottonwoods were alive with birds! Western Tanagers, Yellow Warblers, Lazuli Buntings, Robins, Red-eyed Vireos, Evening Grosbeaks, Goldfinches, unidentifiable Warblers, Chickadees, Dippers and a Spotted Sandpiper, along with the rattle of a Kingfisher or two. Their songs echoed through the trees in the still morning air, and I just sat on a log alongside the trail and listened...
The creek is running high and fast. I sat on the bank and watched an Osprey circle overhead, then to my amazement, it dove feet first straight into the water. It came up with a fish that quite possibly outweighed it!
As I headed back a fox pup ran across the trail in front of me! I don't know which one of us was more startled, and it stopped and stared at me for just a moment, then dashed off into the trees. It looked to be only a couple of months old so there must be a den nearby, as its much too young to venture very far from home.
Spent the afternoon just relaxing in the yard with the dogs. All in all a very enjoyable day.
Went for a morning walk down to the creek, all of the rain has really soaked the ground - even the overflow channels are full. It's been very cool and rainy for the past several weeks, but the temperatures have begun to warm up the past few days, and as a result the mosquitoes are unbelievably thick!
Bluebirds and Tree Swallows have taken over the nesting boxes. Bluebirds are very territorial, but I never realized how much so until this morning when I saw the male take on two Starlings twice his size and drive
them from a puddle beneath the bird house where they were trying to take a drink.The Blue Flax is beginning to bloom, along with the Bitterroots and a few Buttercups. The Lupine are sprouting quickly but no flower spikes as of yet. The wet weather has delayed the blooming season considerably, although it will be great for mushrooms and other fungi. Found some nice shelf fungus on an old, dead cottonwood trunk.
The cottonwoods were alive with birds! Western Tanagers, Yellow Warblers, Lazuli Buntings, Robins, Red-eyed Vireos, Evening Grosbeaks, Goldfinches, unidentifiable Warblers, Chickadees, Dippers and a Spotted Sandpiper, along with the rattle of a Kingfisher or two. Their songs echoed through the trees in the still morning air, and I just sat on a log alongside the trail and listened...The creek is running high and fast. I sat on the bank and watched an Osprey circle overhead, then to my amazement, it dove feet first straight into the water. It came up with a fish that quite possibly outweighed it!
As I headed back a fox pup ran across the trail in front of me! I don't know which one of us was more startled, and it stopped and stared at me for just a moment, then dashed off into the trees. It looked to be only a couple of months old so there must be a den nearby, as its much too young to venture very far from home.
Spent the afternoon just relaxing in the yard with the dogs. All in all a very enjoyable day.
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