The sunny day was enjoyed by the birds and critters, especially by my little chipmunks, who seemed to be everywhere in the woods and in my yard and even sneaking into my garage. But those “cute” chipmunks haven’t found any flowers on my porch to dig up as I might not waste the effort trying to keep the flowers in a pot when they are so determined to unearth them.
Crafty Chipmunk
Arbor Day is a special day that is set aside to raise awareness of trees and I was real aware of all the limbs I was picking up off my lawn. And the birds were aware of the trees as the warmer weather had a lot of courting occurring in the tree branches. There was flashes of blue as courtship was happening among some bluebirds. And the northern flickers were rather vocal as they chased each other among the branches.
A Northern Flicker
As I was picking up sticks off the lawn near the edge of the woods, I spotted the leaves of the trillium plant poking up, although the leaves haven’t unfurled and no bud showing yet. But with the deer around my place, I rarely get to see the great white trillium blossoms as they must be rather tasty to the deer and I generally only see stems were a flower should have been.
Great White Trillium Blossoms
One suggestion for this year’s Earth Day was to take a walk (while social distancing) and discover native plants. I did notice a few leaves of native plants but my outdoor activity today consisted mainly of picking up limbs and branches that wind gust from a few days ago and the heavy snows all winter brought down. It almost seemed like more limbs on the ground than remaining on the trees since I didn’t get finished picking them all up off the lawn today.
Tree Limbs
The lack of snow on the ground had some rabbits playing (or flirting) in my yard until they had to freeze and hold their position when I got too close to them. I imagine I will discover some little bunnies later this spring.
Rabbit Waiting
While these clouds don’t look very nasty, an earlier dark storm front rolled through with 60 mph wind gust that rattled trees and buildings causing some damage today.
Stormy Clouds
Maybe today will be the last day the American Tree Sparrow has to deal with snow as I noticed that white stuff in the ditch finally melted this afternoon. Although this bird must like snow as it will migrate farther north to breed this summer. And the bird is misnamed as the American Tree Sparrows are ground birds, foraging and nesting on the ground.
American Tree Sparrow
The snow was melting in the woods, but still no bloodroots poking up yet. Although there were some green leaves mottled with brown color of the yellow trout lily up, no blossom stems up nor any flowers yet. The leaves mottled coloring resemble the coloring of brook trout, giving the trout lily its name and when eventually they bloom, the yellow is added to its name.
Yellow Trout Lily
This lighthouse keeper won’t be greeting any visitors to Split Rock Lighthouse for a while as the historic site is closed during the pandemic. The historic site tells the stories of the lighthouse keepers and their life, duties and families in the early 1920s.
Split Rock Lighthouse Keeper
The snow is melting but there is still a lot covering the ground in the woods. Maybe after a few more sunny days, the white snow will melt to allow the white bloodroots to bloom as they are usually the second wildflower to blossom in my woods.
Waiting for the Pretty White
