Spring things
This spring has been odd to say the least. The warmth came early and has been sustained. And, it has had its effect on some things. For example, flowering things, such as fruit trees, were very early - blooming weeks ahead of time. The american toads that trill every spring in our ponds were finished by early in March. Whiporwills have been here for several weeks. Bats have been flying for many weeks. The spring peepers have been intermittent, and on some of the hottest days stopped peeping. Local birds like brown thrashers have been doing nesting behavior for weeks.
But interestingly, the neo-tropical migrant songbirds are not that much earlier. I heard my first parula last Thursday, and they have been getting more frequent. The waterthrush have been singing as they pass thru infrequently for a couple weeks. I heard a couple blue-gray gnatcatchers in the last few days. And this morning I heard a white-eyed vireo. But that's it as far as the migratory birds go.
Today it is cool and overcast. It feels chilly. It's what is often referred to as "blackberry winter." It's a folk term, but I have kept track of it for years, and interestingly, we have one just about every year. A blackberry winter is a cool day or days that occur when the blackberries are blooming, and ours are right now - early like most everything else.
But we are dry, and hoping for rain. Which apparently we aren't going to get for another week or so. It has cooled down however. I think that is a good thing, although I feel for those that are getting a hard freeze after this warmth. That would be devastating here.