Welcome Spring! What took you so long?

Welcome Spring
Oh Happy Day! The first day of spring! Good bye winter, I am not sorry to see you go although your presence the last few days has been gentle. My apologies to those who have read this before. I wrote this several springs ago but it has become my welcome acknowledgement to this delightful season every since.


Personifications of Spring
spring whispered and I listened

as trees swung their bare branches in welcome

pussy willows basked in warm sunlight

lulled by blended sounds of mating melodies

singing ageless songs of hopeful renewal

spring sighed and I watched

as melting snow created lawn ponds

awakened roots in the moist earth

quenched their frozen winter thirst

and yearned to stretch their green shoots upward

spring shouted and I felt its power

as disintegrating river ice abandoned its frozen grasp

pelting rains and furious winds spurned slothful winter

and rivers swelled their banks with prideful freedom

while egg laden fish dreamed of journeying home

spring returned today and I smiled

and was content,

secure in my knowledge of its enduring loyalty

Recent spring sightings; Robins, Canada Geese and Grackle

My first sighting this morning was of these two Canada Geese in Blissville in the same pond where I had found Hooded Mergansers yesterday. I was hoping to find a larger flock in the area but had no luck finding anymore. I had gone to Hoyt at the flats there to look, but all I found there was a small floock of Robins. Not a problem, I would trade a bunch of Canada Geese for an early spring Robin sighting anyday.

This Robin shown above appeared to have two distinct lighter spots on its underbelly?

As it was raining it was rather difficult to get more pictures while getting wet and wetter. I was just so very happy to see my first Robins of 2011.
This is my most favourite grackle picture. I love the' bokeh effect' in the background, no not broken , but bokeh a Japanese photographic term used to describe an out of focus area of the image. I think I might try to reproduce this scene in a wall hanging. It will be an interesting challenge

Yesterday this grackle shown above flew into Bird Alley and checked things out for a while. It didn't stay long, but I am hoping it will return bringing all of its hungry buddy, even its usual springbird sidekick, a Red-winged Blackbird would be welcome to add to my enjoyment of seeing and photographing more spring migrants that are returning.

Blissful Revisited

This picture of a male hooded merganser and the link I have included http://naturetales.blogspot.com/2010/03/feeling-blissful-in-blissville.html )may help you understand why I have chosen the name I have used for this post. The Hooded Meganser photo which I have used was taken this morning. It is the first duck I have seen this year in 2011. Ducks symbolize spring to me! It is all about returns and new beginnings. I find this species especially beautiful. I found these ducks this morning ( 3 of them) in Blissville. The link I have included is for a post of my first Merganser sighting last year. It was a blissful experience! Last year on March the 7th., 2010 was when I saw this species for my first pre-spring sighting! in the same community as this morning's sighting.This morning I had seen 2 males, but knew there was a third duck as I saw three taking off when I was taking their pictures, and later;, when downloading the photos I saw a female at the edge of one of the photos of the male. In the photo below the female merganser in in the far right corner, the female of this species is not as exotic looking as the male.
Tomorrow; Gray Jays. I saw a couple at Three Tree Creek yesterday and one along the Branch Road this afternoon. Spring does keep one busy taking pictures! Enjoy.
F. Ann

Red Fox

Yesterday morning I decided to take a drive to see if I could find the ducks that I had seen in a flooded field a few days ago. In anticipation of seeing the ducks again I put my 400mm telescopic lens on my camers for the ducks I had seen were too far distant for making an id. Anyway that was my plan and it was a bit exciting in its anticipation as they were the first ducks I had seen this year so far in out area. But I didn't come home disappointed although I saw no ducks! Instead I saw a handsome red fox relaxing in a field very close to the road. It had the stance of an animal sunning itself, although there was no sun to be seen in the cloudy overcast skies. Ah.. haWe all have our spring dreams, maybe foxes included!

As I was driving by it suddendly registered in my head, that was a fox! I love to see foxes and I hadn't seen any lately though I was anticapating and hoping to seeing one soon! I braked slightly and slowed but I was not in a good position to take its picture.I was dissapointed assuming that my braking may have alerted it to possible dangerand it may have left, however I continued on down the road to a farm driveway and turned there., taking the time to roll down my car window and ready my canera. Returning to where I had seen the fox, I found that it was still there!!!, I don't think it had moved or changed position. This was one cool animal. Several cars had passed since I had first seen it, but it remained un disturbed.


Even when I pulled over onto the road shoulder opposite it and pointed my 400 mm lens out my car window at it. Then I had to readjust my car positioning to get a frontal, shot of it as above.

After several pictures there was still no movement from the fox. Then it turned its head which allowed me a profile shot.

I was starting to wonder if it was ever going to move when a rather noisy vehicle passed and it sat up.



I waited to see any further movement, then it raised a paw.
Then it stood.

And walked and ran away out of my sight.

I am going out again soon this morning, It had rained yesterday, Maybe I'll find those ducks again this morning, ot maybe I'll find something else? something unexpected!

a yellow tail strip on a white waxwing for mellow yellow monday

Although this sighting of a almost all white bohemian waxwing was rather unusual to see, I was pleased and surprised to see that it still retained the characterisrtic yellow strip scross the bottom of its tail of a waxwing! The yellow tail strip is also evident in the header picture.

Happy Monday to all. To view a wonderful variety of yellow-themed photos from other bloggers around the world, just click on the link belowmellow yellow

A White Bohemian Waxwing sighting today at Oromocto

Want to view posts of birds from all over the world? Then drop byWorld Bird Wednesday by clicking on the icon on the right hand sidebar of this page. You are sure to enjoy the many fine photographs posted there by interested and interesting bloggers.

On Thursday of last week, on March 10 I saw a rather unusual looking bird among a group of Bohemian Waxwings. The bird was almost all white, with the exception of a few coloured markings which identified this white bird as a Bohemian Waxwing also. The bird's undertail was a rufus colour and also it had a narrow yellow strip across the end of its tail feathers which is characteristic of all Waxwings. The bird was feeding on what appeared to be small red crabapples found on a group of small trees which bordered the parking lot of Guy Frenchys along the Restigouche Road in Oromocto. I hadn't noticed the white bird at first as I was busy taking picture of the large group of Bohemian Waxwings feeding there. Imagine my surprise and delight! when this beautiful bird appeared in my camera lens!

The white waxwing really stood out among the others. This was an outstanding sighting!

Deer on the highway

we have seen very few deer this winter as the snow has been so deep it is difficult for them to move around easily. However we saw this one yesterday running down the yellow line in the middle of the highway. We worried that it might encounter oncoming traffic, however none appeared and we breathed a sigh of relief when it decided to move onto the shoulder of the highway. a much better choice lady deer!

There was no oncoming traffic, but there was traffic behind the deer. We were following it on the shoulder and there was traffic coming behind us. We could not stop for fear that the traffic behind us would pass and hit the deer. Finally the deer made its own decision and jumped into, or onto, the snowbank of the ditch to our right. You can see the depth of snow on its legs in the photo as it jumped, but to live and run another day was its choice.

Seasonal changes in my yard and Bird Alley

A few days ago I posted this picture above showing only the wire holding a bird feeder which was buried under the snow.Since then, mainly this weekend past we have experienced rain and above 0 degrees C temperatures, and voila! alnost like magic, my green birdfeeder has reappeared!

And more magically work has been about and the depth of the snow underneath our blue house feeder has lowered considerably. I now have hopes that I might be able to manage a trip to bird Alley soon to refill our feeders!

And, Alas, all is not lost! This garden gate has made a reappearance from out of the snow. It could not be seen, nor any parts of it last week. I am taking the welcome on the gate personally and the season is now making me feel welcome again in my own back yard. Although there has to be a lot more dissapearance of snow before I can liesurely walk around freely out doors again, I am feeling greatly optimistic. I have even seen some green grass around the base of our two large old maple trees. Isn't spring wonderful in its anticipaton and arrival?! Yes! I'll be right back, I have to run outdoors to take a picture of the green grass!!

As promised!! Doesn't that green grass in the picture make your day? It does mine!
Before, the top of the feeder hanger crook is all that is showing in Bird Alley!
After, just see the difference in the depth of the snow now!!!!

How sweet it is: a sign of spring: pussy willows

It was a lovely bright, sunny morning and I had decided to go for a drive. Then I remembered the area that I was driving through was the location where I often found early pussy willows showing their fluffy white catkins in February or March other years.To prove my point I posted photos from the same location one year ago on March 3rd., 2010, You can see my previous post here: http://naturetales.blogspot.com/2010/03/finding-flufffy-whie-catkins-for.html Deciding to be more observant of the roadside bushes I was driving past, I looked out my side car window and it was then Isaw them! What a wonderful inspiring welcome sight! Yes, spring is on its way despite this huge pile of snow at the end of our driveway.(shown below)