Things to come......Spring!

Well this has been the longest and coldest winter I can remember!  It could be that I just forget the others because ....well you know...who wants to remember cold, snow, ice, getting stuck, etc.  I don't for one!

Today I just couldn't handle it anymore and started thinking of what is just ahead of us in a few weeks...Spring!  So I am showing some of the wonders of spring that I have captured in years past to get us in the mood!

First the wonderful little spring flowers that pop up everywhere.

Blood Root

May Apples

                                                                Fire-Pink

                                                        Jack-in-the-pulpit (a favorite of mine)

                                                                     Tiger Lily

Trillum

To go out and smell the fresh, sweet air and find these little flowers popping up to announce the beginning of spring....

Next I remember the bulbs that I planted in the fall...

These tulips are at the entrance to the park off Water St.

This was taken in the park and this duck was just having a wonderful time in the Daffodils....

Next the trees start to bud and some are so beautiful! Tuliptree.

Nothing is prettier than flower blossoms on trees.

This Magnolia tree in the park....

This one is on Church St. and so beautiful!  I don't know what kind of tree it is...but it is a WOW.

                                                           Buckeye Tree

                                                 I don't know what this one is...but very pretty.

These are Virginia Blue Bells blooming at Canal Rd. Park. on the hillside.

Some wonderful pictures of the park ......blooming away!

 Then we have the nasty, but pretty bush that blooms yellow and it is the Forsythia!  It is beautiful when blooming but that after is blooms, expect 3 more snow falls.....UGH!   (or so the legend goes!)

The Forsythia in the yellow on the left of the bridge under the Weeping Willow.

The turtles start coming out to sun themselves .....

The American Goldfinch gets his wonderful yellow color back.

Robins and other birds start nesting.

Heron nests found in Ross Co.

Osprey nest at Deer Creek

Eagles eggs are starting to hatch come April!

One of the first birds to migrate back...
Can you name this one?

                                        Red-Winged Blackbird.

Tree Swallow

Cat Bird








I think this is a juvenile Red-tail Hawk....enjoying drying his wings in the sun after a bath.

But one of the neatest thinks to watch, happens in our park.....the birth of the Swans....

                                                 Purple Martins at Deer Creek.

Butterflies appear...flying from flower to flower...


Cloudy Sulphur

Red Admiral







Red-banded Hairstreak

Then there are the rabbits and raccoons that can be seen in holes in trees....

  Baby owls!  This one is a Great-horned Owl...

So if you go out for a spring walk or drive...be sure to take your binoculars and look at the ground, the trees, the holes in the trees...just enjoy.....

Hope you enjoyed this to tide us all over until the weather improves and we can get out!