Spring....is coming??

It may be hard to believe that spring is on its way, especially with it being March 27th yesterday and watching it snow!!   There have been a few slight signs of spring here in Peterborough, however my little visit to Sudbury was anything BUT spring.

My feeder hasn't seen too much action lately.  The typical chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatch, American Goldfinch...the Juncos don't seem to be around as much lately, although they did make an appearance today!  The newest member to my feeder has been a Chipmunk!  Last time I saw the little guy was probably back in November, so it was a nice sign of spring to set my eyes on the little critter!  Not to mention they can't climb and tip over my feeder!

Last weekend I made a quick weekend trip to Sudbury to visit the boyfriend.  I generally bird all along the 400/69 highway up there and try to make a little outing.  On the way there I noticed quite a few bufflehead on any sort of open water that they could find, but not much else was around to look at!  I made a quick stop at French River Provincial Park and walked along the bridge to see what was around.  I was really surprised at how much ice was everywhere and the fact that the only bird I actually saw were Black-capped Chickadees.

There was also a beautiful sun halo that I noticed while on my drive.  I was lucky enough to have been able to pull over and take a photo of it before it disappeared.  I had never really seen a sun halo like this before, so it was pretty neat!

While in Sudbury, Mike and I took a little hike out at Onaping Falls.  It was our first time visiting here and I must say, it's pretty beautiful in the winter!!  The falls were almost all still frozen over, although in some parts you could see (and hear) the water rushing past under all the ice.  Most of the path here was frozen over still, or full of incredibly deep snow (incredibly deep at least if you are as short as me!).  There was no sign of any wildlife here, not even the chirp of a Chickadee or the caw of a Raven.  It's amazing how I left Peterborough where birds were really moving, and drove up here where there isn't even a peep!  It was nice to have one last winter hike though, as now the drizzle of rain seems to be taking over the precipitation patterns.

Once back in Peterborough it looked a lot more like spring.  There was a bit of grass showing and definitely more birds out and about.   I even saw my 50th species of the year....a Song Sparrow!!   

Hoping that it starts to warm up even more and that everyone is having a great start to spring!

Happy Naturing!