and I dream I'm an eagle

 More signs of spring!  First, the GREEN.

Cursed Crowfoot

Ceratodon Purpureus

Cinquefoil

Hairy Bittercress

And the most exciting...the first spring ephemeral!!!

Cut-Leaf Toothwort

Lots of trees starting to bud...

Redbud

Green in the garden, with no help from me.

Shasta Daisies

Parsley

And insect life!!

Sawfly

Millipede

Aquatic life...

Gastropods (freshwater snails)

Our porch possum is more active too!

Lots of beautiful birds, including this grackle...

...and even an eagle!  I'm convinced one is nesting in our woods...I saw several flyovers last year but never seemed to have my camera.  This time I had it, but the wrong lens.  Still, his identity could be made.

Wood ducks have returned to our front pond, too.  A nesting pair!

I love doing daily checks for new signs of spring.  Our morning walk is still fairly brown...

...but it won't be long now.  The mantle is decorated with flowers from the yard...

...and soon we'll celebrate the first official day of spring!  Claudia is loving the warmer temperatures.  She's great company when I poke around in the yard.

The indoor cats are loving those rays of sunshine, too!

This is such an exciting time of year.  Last week I started sweet peas indoors...next week I'll fire up the grow lights and start agrostemma, sugar snap peas, radishes, bachelor buttons, and a few other cool-loving annuals!  Big plans for the garden this year.

Have a great week!

crane terrain

After several chilly days with intermittent snow and cold...

...we had a break.  Sun!  Blue skies!  Temperatures in the 50s!  Todd and I decided to head to Goose Pond in Linton, Indiana for some bird watching.  Goose Pond is an 8,000+ acre wetland conservation area that's still in progress.  The road to restoration has been a little contentious, but it really is an amazing place!

The first thing we heard when we pulled off the road was the distinctive cry of snow geese.  They flew in massive formations far over our heads in the biggest grouping of birds that I've ever seen.  Those little flecks?  All birds.  The formations spread out for miles!

My zoom lens caught a few of the closer ones.

We saw lots of ducks...

...and coots, another water fowl.  We even found a coot foot by the water's edge!

Evidence of beavers was everywhere.

We even saw a snake...in February!

We had decided not to bring Borga so as not to frighten the birds, but we ended up with some canine company anyway - a friendly dog kept pace with us for a while.

There were no established hiking trails.  Muddy, boggy paths led alongside the water, and we both had wet feet in no time.

It didn't matter, though.  We felt like intrepid explorers, with our muddy clothes and sketchy map, careening past cornfields and down unmarked country roads, looking for water inlets and more birds.  My favorite were the sandhill cranes.

We couldn't get too close, because they were feeding on private property, but we were able to watch them do a hopping, dipping courtship dance.

They were beautiful in flight!

We watched them for a long time and listened to their rusty screen door-like calls.

Finally, down one gravel road with a torn-out bridge at the end, I saw my first eagle.  It landed in a field for some nest material...

 ...grabbed some...

...and headed back to the nest.  

It was so exciting!  We also saw a massive flock of red-wing blackbirds in the same area.

After a long day of pushing through brush, squelching through mud, and navigating rural routes, we were pretty exhausted...but I'm so glad that we went!  There are a lot of wonderful wildlife opportunities available to us in our current location, and I want to take advantage of them all.  

Have a great week!