Spring Progress

Spring Progress (4-7-2010)

I went out for a long ramble this afternoon, looking for signs of spring. The sun is out, the sky is blue with puffy white clouds, the temperature is 75 degrees, and all is right with the world. Winter seems to have retreated far behind, just in the past week, and spring is in full voice a couple of weeks ahead of when I would expect it around here.

The photo is the bloodroot patch by the creek in full bloom. What could be more beautiful?

I have been keeping a log of spring progress, and it is amazing to me how much has changed just since April began. Here it is:

April 1
Primrose leaves growing
Song sparrows
Groundhog out
Chipmunk out
Silver maple blooming
Daffodils up 2-6”
Onions growing in garden
Egyptian onions sprouting
Last small patches of snow melting on the slopes
Vultures are back

April 2
Bloodroot emerging
Bleeding heart emerging
Cardinal
Robin
Nuthatch
Birches and aspen blooming
Wood frogs croaking
Spring peeper chorus started
Mourning cloak butterfly
Wasp
Slug
Turkeys (at a neighbor’s house), male displaying grandly
Lots of bugs and beetles showing up

April 3
Phoebes are back
Chives up 2”
Mourning doves singing
Somebody screaming hoarsely in the front yard at 3:00 a.m. (who? Later in the day I heard 2 great horned owls hoo-hooing at each other out behind June’s place.)
First bloodroot blooming
First daffodils blooming (under the mulberry trees)
Violet leaves emerging
Woodpecker calling
Forsythia beginning to bloom
Leaves beginning to emerge on shrubs and brambles
Meadow rue emerging

April 7
Bloodroot in full bloom
Trout lily leaves up
Rhubarb emerging
Red trillium emerging
Lady’s mantle unfolding
Wild onions up
Willows greening
Pussywillows already gone by
Daffodils in full bloom
Forsythia in full bloom