March came in like a lamb, and with sunshine and a temperature in the low fifties, March went out like a lamb too. Or maybe floated out like a butterfly, as one of the first butterflies of the season was enjoying the sunshine on my lawn this afternoon. The Mourning Cloak has one brood in July and after flying around in the summer and fall, it hibernates over winter before mating in spring.
Mourning Cloak Butterfly
I was down by my pond today straightening the wood duck box poles (now that the frost is finally out of the ground) and spotted a few tiny fish swimming in the water. I also heard a bluebird so another bird has returned from the south so another sign of spring even if no wildflowers yet.
Bluebird Returns
I almost posted a picture of the poor geese getting snowed on this morning. They were probably wondering why they came back so soon even if the rain melted the ice off my pond. It was a wet gloomy day but just as the sun was setting, there was a break the clouds to give some color and light to an otherwise dismal day.
Sunset After Snow and Rain
Yesterday evening I spotted a male wood duck by my pond, even though the pond was covered with ice. This morning there was five male and three females wood ducks and one of the males was acting like an icebreaker vessel as it jumped on the ice several times to create a path in the ice. The rain today helped melt some of the ice, giving the ducks more room to swim around.
Wood Ducks Return
I was on the hunt for any spring flower (so I could give one to my mom for her birthday) but I had no luck finding a blossom. There were signs of daffodils, lilies and irises poking up about an inch but no snow glories or even a dandelion flowering yet. There was some growth happening on the various moss patches with sporophytes reaching upward.
Moss Sporophytes
The spring 2020 shipping season on Lake Superior started this past Sunday as vessels began leaving port again. Today the H. Lee White, a 704 foot freighter, arrived in Duluth for the first time this season after a winter layup in Sturgeon Bay.
Arrival of the H. Lee White
Rain fell most of the day, helping to melt away the snow, causing extra water to flow into streams. This rustic old wooden mill sits on a stone dam that was built in 1850 and the stream would provide plenty of flow to turn the wheel for grinding flour like it did in the past.
Dam for Hyde’s Mill
Four years ago on this date, bluebirds returned even though there was still snow on the ground. I haven’t spotted any yet this spring (maybe because the recent snows) but with the south wind today, they might blow in soon.
Waiting for Bluebirds
Mother Nature sure giving plenty of opportunities for snow to land on those robins. And with the couple of inches this morning, those bird tails should have been coated well so maybe it will stop snowing and spring can finally arrive.
Very Unspringlike
A light coating of snow this morning did not close this pretty old chapel. Sometime snow storms may prevent a service but this Hyde Chapel, which was built in 1861, closed in 1957 and now only used for special events. But many more churches were closed this Sunday, not because of snow or declining membership, but because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Closed Chapel
