the annual mating game

 Spring!

A much-need rain turned torrential.

The birds tried to keep dry under the shelter of newly-leafed branches....

...but my outdoor seedlings took a pounding and had to be repotted.

The warming temperatures have brought out the lovebirds!  These two earthworms are makin' babies!

Have you ever wondered what that pink band on earthworm bodies is for?  It actually moves during reproduction, producing mucus.  The worm's eggs stick to the mucus and then passes them over the seminal receptacle of the male, thereby fertilizing the eggs.  

These two cabbage white butterflies caught my eye with their fluttering mating dance.

Male cabbage butterflies inject a hard packet of sperm, which makes up 13% of their body weight (for comparison, this is equivalent to a 5-gallon bucket for a human).  The hard packet helpfully contains nutrients that the female butterfly uses for nourishment.  Clever!

Todd and I disturbed this (nesting?) pair of geese on the back pond.  

I miss our South Carolina "goz" so hopefully we'll see babies later this spring!

There are nesting bluebirds along the fence line...

We've seen turtles peeking out of both the back and the front ponds...

...looking for mates?

We're planning a spring garden expansion.  Here's a big delivery of compost...

...and I've been hurrying to get hardy annuals into the ground as weather permits.

It's nice to enjoy the plants that don't take these exertions...the perennials that faithfully return every year.  

We're loving the redbuds coming on and all of the green that's suddenly (and delightfully) crowding our senses.  Hooray for spring!