A couple of warmer days has allowed the dandelions to provide spots of yellow on the lawn, but the Marsh Marigolds are adding the yellow in wet road ditches. The blossoms of the marsh marigolds produce both nectar and large amounts of pollen which attract many insects.
Yellow in Marshes
When I was walking along the shore of Lake Superior today, I thought I had found a unique white rock embedded in the red layers. But on closer inspection, the rock which I couldn’t reach the top of, wasn’t a rock but snow which still hasn’t melted yet even though it is the middle of May on a seventy degree day.
Snow Rock
As the daylight is increasing and the temperatures are slowly warming up, the recent snow near Lake Superior has melted and the lake shore hasn’t been covered in ice blocks for a while now so the driftwood is exposed again on the beach.
Superior Driftwood
I didn’t pick any dandelions for my usual Mother’s Day flowers since there still isn’t many flowers blooming for the bees to collect pollen from. And with the late spring, the wildflowers are rather sparse yet to take a walk through the woods on mom’s day. Although there are a few violets adding some color in the woods and on my lawn.
Violets for Mom
The bluebird enjoyed a few hours of sunshine before the rain came in the afternoon. But while the sun was out, the song of the late returning House Wren was mixed in with all the other birds relishing the sunny day.
Sunny Bluebird
The trees are leafing out and the grass is growing. And other alien looking things are sprouting up out of the ground too. Fiddleheads are the furled frond of a fern and they are harvested as a vegetable. The three deer in my yard might have been sampling the fiddleheads yesterday but they left some for me to find.
Fiddlehead
My lawn is soggy again but lucky it was only rain and not snow like the ten inches which fell farther to the north. Although six years ago, there was eighteen inches of snow in my yard after a snow storm in May.
May Snow Storm
The very wet and rainy day has the ditches and streams running heavy again. And when the extra storm water reaches lakes, the muddy water can be seen migrating out to the clear water.
Storm Water
Another sunny day brought several more returning birds to the area including hummingbirds and orioles. And I wasn’t ready for them so the oriole let me know his feeders weren’t hung up yet. But the male oriole didn’t leave and he found the feeder after a while so maybe he forgave my tardiness.
Baltimore Oriole Back
Another of the spring bird arrived today, as the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks males have been spotted in the trees and feeders. And at least the males do help the females in the nest building and he takes a turn incubating the eggs for a few hours during the day, although the female has the remaining incubation time.
Returning Rose-breasted Grosbeak
