Hey Judy, where are you?

 The fawns were in our yard just this past Saturday (June 1st)  I think they are just a couple of days old

 New leaves. all the different hues of green on the trail is just beautiful

 Crab Apple tree at work.  the one right outside my office

 

The chipmunks in Basswood are out and hungry

 Spawning Bass

 I have only seen one kit twice.  Bums me out. Hope it is OK

 The Red Breasted Nuthatch's nest

 Had to throw this in.  It was so nice out but the trail still had snow on it.  Of course, the snow is gone now

 Tree Swallows back and nesting.  Haven't seen a Bluebird yet

 Bass Wood early Spring

 Your rock :)

The Red Squirrel early Spring. Losing its winter coat

 Marsh Marigolds are out

The Wood Ducks were by the bridge

To Judy

These pictures are for you Judy

 The bridge finally rid itself of snow

 But THEN... You turn and look at the trail.  YIKES

 However, even if the trail is a mess, a big mess, the Mallards are back

 There is the trail pavement.  AFter I stepped through the ice. Still several inches of ice

 Flickers.  Lots of them

 And the Woodchucks are out!!!!! He/she told me to say hi to you :)

 The ice at Turtle Junction is melting

 As the snow melts the leaves from the fall show themselves.

 I just love taking pictures of pussy willows.  The silvery buds are shining everywhere

 Geese are so beautiful.  I cannot get enough of them this year.

I'm seeing a lot of fox sparrows this year

Yes, the snowfalls have been beautiful this year.  But I'm glad we have moved on into spring.  (just thought I would throw in the Lake Ave bridge for ya)

The trail misses you.  And so do I.

There ARE signs of spring

If you look for it-- you can see signs of Spring

  The willow and the red twig dogwood shrub  deep in color

 Winter Bittersweet

 Willow branches turning the bright yellow/gold that spring brings

 A LOT of geese and swans on the river. It is all so wonderful

 Caught the Mink-- on the ice-- on the branch-- in the river

  At first I couldn't figure out if this was a Mink or Otter.  Decided it was a Mink.  

I know this now for today I saw an Otter on the river and it is much longer, bigger.  The otter was eating on something and an eagle flew over and tried snatching the food, the otter was to quick

The river was beautiful.  

 Golden Eye is back

 Gotcha.  My first chipmunk this season.  In my garage eating up the sunflower seed on the garage floor.  Also saw one in the woods on the trail.

The Trumpeter Swan is amazing and big!

Blue Heron is back

The Dark Eyed Junco. I was very excited to see it

The Snow Bug

I was super excited to see the Red Bellied Woodpecker

pussy willows budding

 THe squirrel and the deer eating sun flower seed that I put out for the chickadees and nuthatches

 My new favorite thing to take a picture of.  They are so beautiful

So go outside and look around.  Don't let this snow fool you.  There are signs of spring everywhere. A fb friend saw robins today.  THis is so exciting!!

"Nothing Burns like the cold"

The color of springtime is in the flowers; the color of winter is in the imagination. ~Terri Guillemets

 Only a couple of the pictures, in this blog were taken on the trail.  Not much walking this winter.  It has been so cold and------- “Nothing burns like the cold.” 

― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter.  Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.  ~Andrew Wyeth

The Red Squirrel.  I'm afraid I'm beginning to like this rodent.  Yup. They have a great personalilty.

I love the white around it's eyes.  They chatter a lot, but sometimes very annoying and loud. But to watch them is to laugh

We've had a lot of snow this year.  Many beautiful days.  On these days the quiet is loud, I'm alone with the trees, birds, squirrels, and the world becomes private and still for a moment.

This deer wanted the sunflower seed so bad that she took a chance I would be friendly. 

The fox hole has some activity.

The blue jay.  A very bright blue, smart, aggressive, loud bird

Female Pine Grosbeak

They belong to the Finch family.  So beautiful

 

I haven't seen the eagles sitting by their nest this winter. The river is  frozen so they have to go elsewhere.  I haven't witnessed  many muskrats feeding either. 

OK, I lied!!!!  I walked the trail today, Saturday 2/11th, and the river is open and the eagle was there.

Well, this is it.  I haven't taken many pictures this winter.  The trail hasn't been very user friendly.  Between the roller coaster  route and the winter bite my visits have been few.

I lied again, the trail has been groomed.  No roller coaster walk.  A lot of snowmobiles on the trail today.  And I'm sorry to report that some snowmobilers have been destructive to the wetlands.  They aren't staying on the trail they have been given, they are going off into the wetlands.  THEY HAVE THEIR OWN TRAIL SO STAY ON IT!!!

 Snow art 

The moon was out today.  It sure has been brightly shinning in the night sky lately