March went out with some more snow at Twin Rivers:

Skerryvore Community Road:

Still River:

and Byng Inlet ….

 

Remember to click on the images to enlarge them.

Harbingers of spring started to swell giving us some hope …

Then the Hooded Mergansers started to arrive, finding any spot of open water, confirming that spring was on its way ….

And the Common Mergansers ….

This Ring-billed Gull found its usual spots along Riverside Rd, in this case the roof of Rusty’s truck …..

This male Red Winged Blackbird is displaying his wings when calling …

Hooded Merganser relaxing in the snow….

Lone Bufflehead Duck patrols the Still River for protein …

Ice is out of the mouth of the Still River on April 24th …

Ice is leaving the dock piles at St Amants on April 29th …

Benoit Mandlebrot would suggest that this is an example of Fractals in Nature.

This Mourning Dove is thinking about it….

AHA!  First one of the season on April 23.  In the sunshine on the darkish bark of a poplar tree.   As I drove towards it, this Mourning Cloak took off and flitted around very energetically for a minute or so before disappearing into the bush.  The Mourning Cloak  is one of the very few butterflies that overwinters here as an adult butterfly.

“The adult butterflies will occasionally come to flowers for nectar, but it’s thought that most of their sustenance comes from sap or decaying fruit. Using tree sap as food would explain why Mourning Cloaks can gain some advantage from arising so early from hibernation. When the sap starts to rise in spring it often seeps out of the bark in places where the tree has been damaged over the winter. In summer you’ll often find them at fresh holes in trees left by drilling sapsuckers (a kind of woodpecker). Also, like many other butterflies, they will extract salts or other nutrients from mud puddles or even from animal droppings (poops).”

Mallards are paired up …

This Pied-billed Grebe is able to change its buoyancy, as demonstrated here…

A pair of Buffleheads cruising the Still River …

A Broad-winged hawk (I think) looking for prey from a telephone line along Hwy 526:

Some green grass in a local ditch.  I couldn’t resist capturing some spring warmth!

Ruffed grouse blending in with the brown foliage of springtime….

Pair of Ringneck Duck males paying attention to a female.

A couple of Pied-bill Grebes …

Not common at all ….   I had seen only one of these Horned Larks before.   This one was alone, scrabbling on the surface of the Britt Helipad.

Male and female Ringneck Ducks….

My guess is that we are a couple of weeks behind in seeing the usual signs of spring.  If we get normal temperature the woods will come alive with the sights and sounds of spring very quickly.  The sun will be at solstice in only 7 weeks.

A good time to get out and about.