Looking For Spring

Indian Plum

Indian Plum is the first deciduous shrub to show signs of life in our yard after winter, and here is one that is getting close to blooming already.  This is one of the things that I anxiously look for in February as a sign that spring WILL be coming.  

Heron rookery at the Kenmore Park and Ride, 2/17/2012

The heron return to the rookery in Kenmore every year around the first week of February.  The rookery was definitely FULL Friday morning.  In the near future I'll post more pictures from my trip there.

Red-tailed hawk returns to nest in Kenmore's Wetland #3

A red-tailed hawk returns to the same nest in the cottonwood tree behind our fence every February.  There it was peaking out of the nest Friday afternoon.

So I have now seen all of the early signs of spring that I watch for along Little Swamp Creek.  Here are some other things we've seen along the stream in the last month or so -

Varied Thrush

Varied Thrush pair in a locust tree

Varied Thrushes were here in January but I haven't heard them lately.

Chickadees, of course

Flocks of (maybe?) Pine Siskins passed through and seemed to be pecking at alder cones

Towhee giving me the stink-eye because the bird feeder was empty

Stellar's Jay also pointing out that empty feeder

Flicker

Flicker looking guilty after hammering on our stove pipe

Bees were going crazy on a hellebore one unseasonably warm afternoon

Some of my first photos of the year of the red-tailed hawk in the tree across the field from us -

I could tell that the hawk had returned because of the fussing of crows.  Speaking of crows, I have noticed that the huge flocks of crows that would stop for a while in our neighborhood as they pass through at dusk all winter long are no longer showing up.  That also seems to happen every February.

I haven't seen the Kenmore deer herd for quite some time.