Clouds

The sky is sunny blue except for the horizon. Two bambis are playing tag amongst the corn, a grackle and a red-wing proclaim their territories from adjacent trees, baby dove practices flying with mama, and a downy woodpecker, a goldfinch, and two sparrows take turns on the snag.

Life is good.

Where is spring when you need it?

You may be tired of blogs about winter and snow. I know I am! But it's not as easy as "just say no to snow." This unseasonable weather is taking a toll, physically and psychologically.

Cindy at WoodSong - Off the Beaten Path writes Migrants Taking a Cold Beating and worries about the birds and other wildlife who cannot find sufficient food or warmth in this weather.

The Ann Arbor News printed a photo of a robin pulling a worm out of the ground in the snow, with the caption "Frozen food." Jimmy, at Details of Nature, offers a similar picture sans worm in Word of the Day! but doesn't say if the word's "robin" or "snow." Maybe bird is the word?

Although her post's title is recently read or seen - and enjoyed, Bev at Burning Silo opens with a photo and discussion of the unseasonable weather. Her word for it is "tiresome" and with it she captures the feeling we all have about this mess.

In The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: a Birder's Tale in three Parts, Jochen of Bell Tower Birding promises no more posts about the weather, which he didn't let prevent him from birding.

Colleen, of In the Garden Online, writes about the challenges of this cold and snow for gardeners in Now I Have Faith. Fortunately, she was successful in nuturing her sproutlings, so check out her post for ideas and insight if you're trying to start something growing despite the weather.

In an Iowa Garden, Don observes A Shaft Of Sunlight On A Snowy Day. While this is a basically cheerful post about the yellowing of goldfinches as a sign of spring, the s-word is still involved.

And me? I've run out of words for snow, and thus I share with you the comments of my colleagues.

I hate to admit it, but ....

... it really is pretty. It's looked like we lived inside a snow globe most of the week, and the light dusting of white on all the landscape was kind of nice this morning. The prettiest of all was the less than 1/2 inch accumulation.

Good news, bad news

My outdoor photography plans for the weekend are on hold until it gets a little warmer and last night's snow melts. Yes, major bummer, springophiles - so go look at Wayne's photos of daffodils instead if you need a warm-weather fix.

The one advantage of the snow is that birds come to the feeders - already this morning I've seen finches, blue jays, starlings, doves, a red-bellied woodpecker, and a pair of cardinals.

The cardinals are interesting - the female repeatedly flies over to the outside window sill and tries to come in. It's not like she's crashing into the window, it seems very deliberate perching on the sill. She's done this about 20 times in a row now.

The Zen of Doves

It was a glorious day today: warm, sunny, and overflowing with birds. I watched the ducks and geese congregate in the wetlands - they seemed to be having a wonderful time splashing around, like kids in a wading pool. The deck visitors were more mellow, except for the starlings who squabbled like pundits on a talk show. The doves were more typical - soaking up the warmth and placidly watching the passing scene.

This is really depressing

The Scotsman - International - Unhappy feat: biologists baffled as millions of penguins vanish

Yes, this story is from December, which makes it old news. However, being particularly fond of penguins (even though I have none in my backyard habitat), I am distressed that one of the species is declining so sharply.

As Marcus illustrates in his post Overheard on the Corner of 45th and 8th, it's easy for people to joke about global warming in the winter or in a cold climate. I've done so myself, and even jokingly called for a little more global warming. But when you stop and think about it, it's not so funny.

Niches :: Aftermath

More pictures and commentary after the flooding, Niches :: Aftermath, including a reasonable and balanced discussion of the effects of development upstream. I'm torn between concern for unintended side effects and a celebration of the resilience of mother earth.

If there are signs of spring

in Flatbush, can michigan be far behind?

Flatbush Gardener: Finally, Spring

Rainy Night in Georgia

As witnessed by Wayne's posts Niches :: Portrait of a Rainy Day and Niches :: Portrait After the Rainy Day you can see there was quite a serious rain at Sparkleberry Springs.

Here in Michigan, we had typically erratic weather - at 8am it was snowing, at 9 it was raining, at 10 it was sunny and clear, at noon it was snowing again. We had another round of clouds then sunshine then snow in the afternoon. Despite the snow, it was overall warmer today and stayed above freezing all day, so most of what precipitated melted as it hit the ground, or shortly thereafter.

The melting snow, plus the rain and snow that fell created this out back:



And for any of you who may have thought yesterday's picture of the wetlands didn't look very wet, well, here's another view:

Opposites Attract?

One of the hottest topics in pop and new age culture right now is "The Secret." If, like me, you haven't read it, here's the short course In case you still don’t know “The Secret”… » Massage, Mind & Body and here's the equal time link Shaking Riches Out of the Cosmos.

So, now that we're all on the same page, tell me: why is there snow, sleet, and ice outside my window? I've been very, very thankful for warmer weather, water not ice on the roads, migrating geese overhead, the promise of blackbirds returning before the end of the month, and the days the sun has shined this week. I've believed, based on my former life in Virginia and on blog reports from my southerly neighbors, that spring is imminent. I didn't even think about the weather reports yesterday, because I was so happy that it was going to be bright, warm, and sunny.

Nonetheless, I awoke to the tap, tap, tap of little icicles on the window panes, nearly fell on the ice as I was going to get the paper, and thought I'd lost my glasses the first time I looked through the ice coated window into a very blurry back yard. Half an hour ago, I was watching and listening to the second round of ice taps on the windows. Right now, it's snowing: big, wet, messy snowflakes are plopping on the ground and deck, on top of the ice, just to make walking and driving that much more fun.

Someone may have a secret, but not me.

Spring! Spring!

The bird is on the wing!
My word - absurd!
The wing is on the bird.

What is it about spring that brings out our deep-rooted silliness? Joy that winter is leaving us? Physiological response to more hours of sunlight? Elevated temperatures overheating our still-frozen brains?

I don't know, but I'm rejoicing in each and every sign that spring is approaching. This morning I heard a Phoebe - I'm not great on IDing birds calls, but that one's pretty unmistakable - so the migrants are returning. Seconded by the multiple flocks geese flying overhead, the sunlight still visible at 7pm, and the second day of greater than 40 degree temperatures. Not only are there mud puddles, there are vast clear swaths of street, sidewalk, and driveway, and even a few bare patches of lawn.

Maybe the red-winged blackbirds aren't all that far behind!

Weather or not

My Virginia friends profess to believe that Michigan is synonymous with the North Pole, or at least with Minnesota. This has led to summer conversations such as

Friend From Virginia: What did you do yesterday?
Me: Sat out on the deck and watched the birds
FFV: Weren't you cold?
Me: It was 80 degrees!

Of course, the Michiganders aren't much better. They spent all summer and spring telling me how miserable I was going to be come winter, the first half of winter assuring me that it was inordinately mild for this time of year, and the time since the cold snap started telling me that it used to be much colder, for much longer, and with lots more snow and ice. I think they were trying to scare me back to Virginia.

Now, I don't want to challenge the native self image of toughness, but I've seen five inches of snow before, and I had a heating element for my bird bath in Virginia for a reason. Yes, on average it's colder here, and the snow hangs around a little longer. But neither penguins nor polar bears have paraded through my yard.

Despite the icicles, I can already see signs of spring. The trees in the front yard have buds (heh, they're Bradford Pears, the golden retrievers of the plant world; what do you expect?) . The days have been getting steadily longer and lighter, and started doing so almost immediately after the equinox. The geese have been flocking northward in ever increasing numbers, and the goldfinches are ever-so-slightly brighter yellow.

I've read that the red-winged blackbirds will return in February. That seems awfully early to me, but I've been watching carefully for any signs of them. The cedar waxwings, the herons, the blue birds... so much to look forward to.

Depressing ...

The Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has been released. For those you who don't want to read the whole thing, the New York Times article "Science Panel Calls Global Warming ‘Unequivocal’" is a good summary. You may also want to check the other NYT resources on the global warming and Wayne's comments at Niches.

I am depressed, not so much because we humans are having an adverse effect on the planet but because of a stubborn refusal by the current administration to face facts that are inconvenient. Mistakes can be fixed and damage reversed (albeit very slowly in this case) but only once accepting that there's a problem and a responsibility to help solve it. Refusing to participate in the Kyoto Protocol and pressuring scientists to change their findings may win political points and campaign donations, but it won't prevent a world without penguins and polar bears.

What have I gotten myself into?

Don't get me wrong, I love it here and I'm glad we moved. Nonetheless, I was taken aback the other day when I walked outside and thought "great, it's warmed up since yesterday" and then realized it was 30 degrees.