Signs of Spring!

I'm quite certain there is a bluebird scoping out one of our houses set up along the backyard! And I've noticed the birds are singing happily outside the past couple of days. They are probably as thrilled as us humans are with nice warmer temps and longer daylight hours. I will expect to see a robin any day now...

If you just HAVE to get a dose of spring now, head over to the Frederik Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids for the annual Butterflies are Blooming" exhibit. It's an explosion of life and color. Here's a photo of my son delighting in a butterfly who decided to perch right onto his hand...

Spring is Coming?

What's happening in our area today?

Snow.

Lots and lots and LOTS of it. And high winds to blow it around. Some of the wind gusts have been clocked around 35-50 mph. We live up on top of a fairly high hill. I barely made it up and down the driveway. And the neighbor didn't make it up theirs - even with an SUV - which is now out there abandoned sideways on their driveway.

The poor birds are huddled together, looking very unhappy as they are blasted by the wind gusts. I had four male cardinals and a couple of females fighting over the last scraps of suet and seeds.

And the snowplow wiped out our mailbox. I'm ready for spring to arrive!

Sandhill Cranes

Today as I was pouring my morning coffee, I could hear the calls of sandhill cranes. The day before, I spotted a pair in an open plowed field area near my home. Since I drive right past the field on the way to take my son to daycare, I made a point to see if I could spot the pair.

No problem spotting a “pair” - because there were approximately 35-40 sandhills strolling the field, along with a few wild turkeys mixed in for good measure.

Of course, I ran back to get my camera. I didn’t get many photos before another vehicle came along and scared them off. Since I’ve heard them over the course of a few days, I’m hoping they’ll stop back a few times before heading south.

So Easy - it's a Finch!

Here's a photo of a finch I took this morning. I was visiting the local farm market down the street. There were hundreds of these little guys having their breakfast in the rows of sunflowers!

It made my morning watching them happily flitting about the blooms.