REDWING BLACKBIRDS!

Pussy willows!Big chunks of the river are going out.We’re certainly getting more sun now, but the weather is still very mixed.

My first human visitor of the year (apart from the men who ploughed my road – they did not come inside) was Ryan, my soon-to-be new neighbour, who brought a load of stuff up to their place.  It will be nearly a month before the family moves in full time.

Naturally, I put my visitor to work – helping to sweep the chimney!Since the road was ploughed, it has become an icy mess.Especially as it still keeps snowing.There are now about 12 pine grossbeaks, 10 blackbirds, 12 redpolls, and 8 or nine chickadees of both species.

The shoulder flashes of the blackbirds are particularly vibrant in the snow.The chickadees usually wait until it is a bit quieter.  Blackcap on top, Mountain below.

Another sign of spring is that I made my first trip to town since early December.  I wanted to be at the garage before 8.00:am and the forecast wasn’t great, so I left at 4.00:am.  For the first two and a half hours I saw very little sign of life, no animals at all, and only occasional scattered lights from isolated settlements, two sleeping logging trucks, and one moving vehicle, which was some kind of freight truck.  However, I had the rising moon for company.By 6.30, the light was coming into the sky, and people were starting to move.No snow at all in Williams Lake, but the dust from the winter’s road sanding was being blown around by furious winds.  The weather stayed fine, though, until I was almost home, when I ran into a heavy rain shower.Apart from the wonderful array of vegetables in my van, I also carried home my usual spring treat – a hyacinth still in tight bud.  I will enjoy watching it emerge – and smelling it – among the cottonwood, soopolallie and willow twigs now in pots all over the windowsills.  I got a kick out of the iconic instructions on the hyacinth… I suppose people might be tempted to eat it.

Then this morning (after another snowfall), another migrant arrived.  A junco!  He’s looking as though he rather wished he hadn’t.