After a nasty winter and a nasty April, spring is finally here, that sweet Wisconsin spring I so love.
With a warm day, I was able to do yard work. Wearing a sleeveless top, I raked up the front yard, pulled some weeds, and trimmed shrubs. I threw the yard waste into Gary's little trailer. He added the branches he trimmed from the apple tree and off we went to the city dump. There is nothing that says spring as much as a visit to the city dump.
We sat on the back deck and read as we started our summer tans.
After supper, I talked Gary into a drive over to the Shiocton marsh. I hadn't been over there since before I went to Illinois the last time. A week can make a big difference. The ice has completely melted leaving the marsh flooded, perfect for migratory birds.
There were birds all over the place but with so much water, they usually were too far away to photograph. The one exception are coots who never seem to be afraid of anything.
Gary was swinging his binoculars this way and that, calling back his observations to me.
He is a wizard when it comes to identifying birds. In that short mile of marsh, we found northern shovelers (a lot of them), Canada geese, red-winged blackbirds, coots, mallards, pie-billed grebes, buffleheads, tree swallows, hooded mergansers, redhead ducks, ringed necked ducks, wood ducks, sandhill cranes, blue-winged teal and a pair of muskrats.
On the way home, we watched the flood of geese heading north, countless V's against the blue sky. It was a priceless day, made sweeter by the long, long winter.
With a warm day, I was able to do yard work. Wearing a sleeveless top, I raked up the front yard, pulled some weeds, and trimmed shrubs. I threw the yard waste into Gary's little trailer. He added the branches he trimmed from the apple tree and off we went to the city dump. There is nothing that says spring as much as a visit to the city dump.
We sat on the back deck and read as we started our summer tans.
After supper, I talked Gary into a drive over to the Shiocton marsh. I hadn't been over there since before I went to Illinois the last time. A week can make a big difference. The ice has completely melted leaving the marsh flooded, perfect for migratory birds.
There were birds all over the place but with so much water, they usually were too far away to photograph. The one exception are coots who never seem to be afraid of anything.
He is a wizard when it comes to identifying birds. In that short mile of marsh, we found northern shovelers (a lot of them), Canada geese, red-winged blackbirds, coots, mallards, pie-billed grebes, buffleheads, tree swallows, hooded mergansers, redhead ducks, ringed necked ducks, wood ducks, sandhill cranes, blue-winged teal and a pair of muskrats.
On the way home, we watched the flood of geese heading north, countless V's against the blue sky. It was a priceless day, made sweeter by the long, long winter.
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