Every time we thought spring finally arrived, winter would return……. again and again. Everybody is behind on their spring chores and planting since the snow left very late and the fields are wet. Several of the neighbors have had tractors stuck in the fields.
Mean while we were able to burn a few old, dilapidated deer stands we inherited years ago. We downed trees for habitat improvement. The opening of fishing season met us with a half foot of snow, remnants of the 14″ of the heaviest snow ever, two days earlier. The heavy snowfall left the water too high for fishing, however, the following weekend found the water fishable. The Trout Lilies bloomed, and we harvested our first Ramp of the season and promptly made Ramp Soup. The Baltimore Orioles showed right on time, even though snow squalls prevailed much of the day, and that’s the same day I spotted the first buck of the year. The drumming Grouse clip does NOT have audio. By the way, the Grouse drummed 40 times in a two hour span.
It was an active year in the spring pond. Swans, Sand Hill Cranes, Bluebills, Ringbills, Redheads, Canada Geese, Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, Pintails, Bufflehead, Blue Wing Teal, Widgeon, Woodies, and Mallards all visited, along with a variety of shore birds.
.jpg "Baltimore Oriole at Turtle Creek Outfitters")