First Sign of Spring

First_Warrior

It's snowing here with 5 inches and more expected. Saw a flock of Robins yesterday. Them birds are two weeks early as they usually don't show up till the middle of Feb. Starting to inventory last years seeds and make a order up for this year. It will be 55 degrees here in a couple of days. Spring is just around the corner. 

peter4jc

dirtdude

Was just thinking this today when I noticed the romaine lettuce from my fall garden was beginning to go to seed. Love the pic of spring around the corner Peter

YankeeMan

Down here, my crocus, croci or whatever the heck you call them, are starting to come up.

genareddog

Last weekend I got poison ivy working outside this weekend I froze my fingers off working outside.

peter4jc

Spring's just around the corner here in WI too.  Unfortunately, the corner is still at least 2 months away.

danielzreyes

it's gonna be 79 today

dirtdude

Had a couple mornings around 30 this week but very nice today,  mid 70's I would guess, think we are through the worst of it, still riding the bike to work everyday

jgibv

YankeeMan said:

Down here, my crocus, croci or whatever the heck you call them, are starting to come up.

we had about a week of 50+ degree weather earlier this month.....and the narcissus & tulip bulbs started poking up.

of course now the temp is back well below freezing and looks to stay that way. 
hopefully the bulbs aren't damaged too bad and we still get some spring flowers in a few months.

deadman

Heerbrugg Switzerland, been here a week and a half. Yesterday it finally got above freezing. I took this picture Friday because it was the first time I had seen the sun here.

avengethis

Yup spring is coming

Emcee

My azaleas and gardenias are blooming already.  Haven't seen the birds migrating, but I suspect this is going to be a nasty summer if things are warming up already.

miller65rod

I have seen Robins as well, they usually start looking for nesting areas around here in late mid March.

I have 4 Blue Spruces beside my house, around April they turn into a chirping concert hall from 5 am till dusk. Sparrows have already started to sing again in the tops of the Spruces and they are early as well.

Seems to me Spring is coming early in many parts. Once I see the Cranes flying North it will be confirmed for me. 

Yakster

Guitarded

58 and sunny today. Front nine left, back nine right. 
Thank you to @Smoothsticks for the Immaculata, have not had one in a while and it was great. Like a conversation with an old friend. The Partagas was from an unknown bomber at the herf ( Luke I think, that weekend is still blurry!). 
83 for the first round of the year. Me happy! 

Albinfk

Wow you only needed 1 ball!

silvermouse

Happy Groundhog Day, everyone!

WaterNerd

It's amazing how much wildlife you can attract to your back yard by just adding a few things like a fountain, bird feeder and trees that are heavy bloomers 

jlmarta

I used to feed the birds. I loved having them around. Especially the mockingbirds even though they seem never to sleep. They sing all night long. But I loved it. 

There are a couple problems with feeding birds, though. Firstly, they're ungrateful little wretches. They make an unholy mess below the feeder on the ground. And they poop anywhere and everywhere. 

But the absolute worst part is that the feeders attract bluejays. And there's not a more despicable SOB in the bird world than a bluejay. If a bluejay can't eat it or doesn't like it, they'll scatter it all on the ground or chase away any other birds that would happily eat it. They're the 'dog in the manger' of birds. 

Worse yet, the bluejays chased away every mockingbird in a ten mile radius (I'm guessing) and the only way to get them back is to put out feeders and start the whole process all over again. My only alternative is an accurate air rifle.... 

Sooooo, I don't feed the little bastiges any more....  

webmost

We rode the big beemer bagger to a gathering in Madison Indiana, once upon a time. Nice park along the river. Had a bird watching place, an unlit stone building with one way witness glass, like you see in cop shops on the boobtoob. On the shady side of the bldg. Big stone window ledges, where they sprinkled bird seed. You could put your snoot right up to the little buggers and they'd never know. 

Came home, first thing I did was source some one way witness glass, made a bird window on the North side of the garage, and we set bird feeders there. Same type deal ... you can put your nose right on the glass, them pecking the other side, they have no idea. 

Anyhoo, my point is, the bluejays get too involved squabbling with the bluejay in the mirror to scatter your seed.

We like to watch the flickers and peckers and such not jabbing at suet blocks. 

Pretty little jewels.

First_Warrior

Yesterday i was setting sunflower seeds in one of our bird feeders and a little red headed woodpecker started working our suet block just three feet away from me. I got quiet and just watched,nice. 
When i was a teen and a squirrel hunter, if the Blue Jays saw me they would let every squirrel in the woods know I was there. We have a feeder that shuts if anything that weighs more than a Cardinal gets on it so the Jays are resigned to scratching on the ground underneath. 18 degrees tonight and will be 60 in two days. Heard doves calling this afternoon.

YankeeMan

jlmarta said:

I used to feed the birds. I loved having them around. Especially the mockingbirds even though they seem never to sleep. They sing all night long. But I loved it. 

There are a couple problems with feeding birds, though. Firstly, they're ungrateful little wretches. They make an unholy mess below the feeder on the ground. And they poop anywhere and everywhere. 

But the absolute worst part is that the feeders attract bluejays. And there's not a more despicable SOB in the bird world than a bluejay. If a bluejay can't eat it or doesn't like it, they'll scatter it all on the ground or chase away any other birds that would happily eat it. They're the 'dog in the manger' of birds. 

Worse yet, the bluejays chased away every mockingbird in a ten mile radius (I'm guessing) and the only way to get them back is to put out feeders and start the whole process all over again. My only alternative is an accurate air rifle.... 

Sooooo, I don't feed the little bastiges any more....  

We had the exact problem when we were up north.  We got all kinds of beautiful birds, hummingbirds, chickadees, etc.  We enjoyed them for several years and then the bluejays came and ruined everything.  We had to stop feeding the birds also.

It was a shame we had to do that.  The feeders were about 8 feet from my patio where I smoked and the chickadees would come and perch on the arm of my chair when I was smoking.  I missed that.

silvermouse

I put out a bowl of cat crunchies for the crows, keeps the blue jays busy, too. They show up at the feeder a bit but aren't really a problem. 

jlmarta

Crows are a lot smarter than the jays. When they're flocking and causing a nuisance, they even post a lookout to alert the rest of the flock to possible danger. But if you shoot one, chances are pretty darned good they won't come back. 

Bluejays, on the other hand, require a bunch of them being killed before they finally wise up. 

Albinfk

My wife owns a pet supply and garden center. I go thru 40lbs of seed a week. Tons of blue jays and they make a mess but spread the seed around for the smaller birds. Also have cardinals, woodpeckers, morning doves, and a occasional hawk that makes a meal of one of the above.