The bird migration showed up yesterday. Robins everywhere, filling the rain gutters.
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Mergansers and mallards are pairing up.
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The primary method of reproduction in mallards is Rape, sometimes so violent that the female is maimed or even killed in the process. They do pair up but it does no good for the females.
Lots of signs of spring in neighbors’ yards along the walk to take my kids to school this morning!
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Saw my first tiny green leaf on an apple!
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The birds are better forecasters than groundhogs…not that Phil has much to do concerning things in KY of IL.
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Phil is so old and is blind so he never see’s his shadow so he is worthless as a spring predictor. Many of my citrus trees are getting kicked out tomorrow when the temp goes above freezing.
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It stayed above zero last night.
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Nothing but i can tell the days are longer and there is more ice (from snow melting) so higher chances of slipping and suffering fractures.
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Bird crap all over the front walk
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The snow cover having melted off the daffodil bed, green tips of new daffs popping up
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12 F, minus 7 wind chill, and due to get colder for the next couple-three days. I like to imagine it’s winter’s last, desperate assault before retreating and regrouping for next year.
I shoveled once, but it’s filling right back in. Happily though, I went out yesterday and shoveled snow onto the garlic bed and a spot where I have a few lettuce and spinach plants that I’d hoped would overwinter, so it should have a little protection. And the day before that I pruned the pear with temps in the low 40s.
So yeah. Spring, all right!
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Green tips on Striped St. apple…hellebores in bloom, not daffodils yet.
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Full frog chorus tonight, have not heard them in several months. We had rain last week and did not get a chorus. Today we got about 1/2 inch of rain and tonight the frogs are regaling any and all with their love songs.
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No froggie lullabies here in KY yet…but usually it happens in NC in February.
Skunk cabbage is blooming. One of the extremely few plants that can generate heat. It’s thought that it generates heat to volatilize ( is that the right word? ) compounds to attract pollinators when it’s cold. The flowers can melt thru the snow. One of my mad scientist ideas is to put the heat producing genes into houseplants.
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Some species of marigold are deadly to nematodes. They deliberately trap nematodes in their roots and surround them with oxygen which is deadly when pure. Combine nematode killing with heat producing plus nitrogen creating and drop that in a corn plant and you might just kill Pioneer hybrid corn.
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