The 15th day of April have ties to great losses like the sinking of the Titanic, President Lincoln dying, loss of money for people paying in taxes and now the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral. And while the day was the end for somethings, it was also the start for others as there was the first new calf of the season at the farm today.
New Life
The freezing temperatures overnight caused an ice layer to almost cover all of my pond. There was a small patch of open water in which I spotted a pair of Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers floating close together. They probably needed the bigger body mallards to break up the ice, but at least by noon, they had this bigger patch of water. At least the ice wasn’t as thick or damaging as the iceberg that the Titanic hit 107 years ago on April 14 and sank less than 3 hours later.
Freezing Over Again
The return of winter has the critters hunting harder for food again so the squirrels and chipmunks are raiding my bird feeders more than normal besides more birds.
Feeder Raider
Another day of snowfall adding to the snow pack of a foot makes it impossible to see any spring flowers if they previously had poked their noses up out of the ground. It is hard to remember it is spring when it looks like winter.
Where Have All The Flowers Gone
I don’t know where spring went since I had to walk through ten inches of snow to get to the bird feeder today. And the blowing snow, sleet, freezing rain, thunder and roaring winds did not look or feel like spring at all.
Where Did Spring Go?
The pair of wood ducks were checking out a duck house this morning, before the snow came so I wonder if they will head south now. And the spring birds are not the only birds having trouble finding food this evening as even the winter birds had problems locating seeds in the snow covered feeder.
Snow Covered Feeder
It was nice to be able to eat some meals out on my porch during the warmer weather the last few days and the critters seem to enjoy the sunny days too. But it won’t be warm enough for that the rest of the week. Plus the critters and birds might have trouble finding any seeds on the ground if there is new snow layer.
Chow Time
The sixty degree day melted most of the ice off my pond and somehow the ducks knew it as a pair of mallards were swimming in the pond. Then male wood duck joined the party, although I didn’t spot a female wood duck but she could have been checking out the duck houses.
Return of the Ducks
April showers bring May flowers. Hopefully the rain showers will bring some flowers, but at least today’s rain took some more of the snow away as I wait for the new blossoms.
Smiling Flowers
The rain this morning caused more snow to melt and fill the ditches with water and even caused my pond to overflow again, and it is a good thing there isn’t this much water flowing out of my pond or my lawn would be washed away.
Upper Amnicon Falls Flowing
