It's rainy and squishy and I feel like I just want to go back to bed and try again tomorrow. But I went out for my walk, and my brown thrasher is back singing his lovely song.

A short walk at Kickapoo (couple of miles) today -- don't really feel up to more. But three proper signs of spring:
Spring peepers
Comma butterflies
A brown thrasher singing away

A fine little walk.

Since the weather was attractively springlike, I went to Kennekuk today. The ponds were still frozen over, but I did see one small orange butterfly of indeterminate species.

I didn't have anything else going on today, so I went over to Kennekuk for a bit.  It was pretty warm today, but I found it tolerable, which I think means I'm starting to acclimate to summer.  Good thing, because it is scheduled to be beastly hot tomorrow and I'm going to be at EFRC.  Things are pretty dry -- no mud to worry about, and very few ( Read more... )

My brown thrasher is back and singing his lovely lively cinnamon song. It's not quite my birthday, but close enough.

Saturday, I went out to the Out and Back area of Kickapoo, and the frog ponds where the main trail first meets the haul road were simply amazing.  So yesterday, I invited Jeremy, who enjoys nature and wildlife with a special interest in the old fashioned stuff, to come out with me and experience it.  High points of the afternoon included a very ( Read more... )

Somehow that phrase sounds like it should be a reference to something, but it's just a simple fact.

I just took a walk around the block.  Coming up the lane south of my property, I looked ahead as a critter ran onto the road and stopped to look at me.  My initial reaction was "kitty-cat!"  But the "kitty-cat" stood still looking at me for a few seconds, and it registered that this "kitty-cat" had long, dainty, dark-colored legs, a really furry ( Read more... )

I went to Kickapoo this afternoon.  It was still a little cool, forecast high of 60°F, but the sun was out.  I went backwards around the north Riverview loop, and it was warm enough by the little bridge to actually take my jacket off and catch a little bit of the sun in just my T-shirt.  I got into the woods, along the rugged "hard" branch of the ( Read more... )

Today I went over to the marshes at Kennekuk.  Rain had been forecast, but only a few scattered drops materialized.  There was no ice at all on the marshes, and only a little left on the sheltered west side of Lake Mingo when I climbed up the dam to have a look.  There were bluebirds and a few sparrows, robins singing, and a chorus of frogs.  I ( Read more... )