For those of you who live in the north country, you know that just because the calendar says it’s spring doesn’t mean it is so. April can be a long month, with not enough snow to continue your winter sports of cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, but too much snow to mountain bike the woods. It is often muddy and cold for a long time before we get trail conditions suitable to break out the toys. November and April are the two hardest months if you ask me to get out and enjoy the outdoors any other way than going for walks, or trail runs.
April, however, does bring the sounds of springtime. The rattling calls of the herons and cranes, the lovely song of the robins, the cheerful chatter of the finches, and the call of the phoebe. The other thrilling sign of spring is when the weather warms to the 60-70* range, the spring peepers come out. The chorus of the peepers is mesmerizing. When you walk into a wetland area you can hear a number of types of amphibians, amongst the thousands of calling frogs. Someday I will take part in a frog count, and try to identify all the types of frogs in my region. The funny thing is no matter how many thousands of spring peepers are calling they are virtually impossible to see. Try it next time you hear their wonderful songs.
Today while listening to the woods chattering with bird life, we noticed a large great horned owl, watching the bird feeder. A great sight to see. Below is a picture of another owl that frequents our little spot in the woods, it is a barred owl.
Below are the first types of flowers to grace our northern woods, the trillium, and the pink lady slipper. For now, I must be content to look at my past pictures, as we still have two foot of snow on the ground, and the snow is falling, with another 3-4″ forecasted for the next twenty-four hours. This means I can keep skiing for another week or two, but I sit here dreaming of springtime flowers.