Storms and cold wind continue.

It is freezing hard at night, and daily temperatures have not been above +5C for a long time.  During the January thaws they reached +9C – that temperature has not been matched since.  The forecast is for sun and much warmer weather in about 4 days’ time.  The forecast has been the same for a long time – the promised spring is always four days ahead.

Very slowly, the snow is going.  The ponds are still frozen (they were open this time last year) but the little creek has broken through the snow in the swamps.  I can hear it on the rare occasions that it is warm enough to sit on my deck.

The birds are slow in coming, too.  The lady redwing blackbirds have arrived.  They look nothing like their husbands.

This morning I had a good view of a ruffed grouse who thought I had not seen him.

And I was charmed by a tiny scrap of life known as a ruby-crowned kinglet.  They have a noisy song, but nothing is singing in this weather.  I could not get a photo, but here is a drawing I did as an illustration for A Mountain Year.