Colvin Run Habitat Blooms

Let me provide a quick tour of this week’s blooms. These are from the side rhododendron, which is now 15 feet high and about 10 feet wide.

Continuing, here are this week’s iris blooms.
Continuing, some pansy blooms remain. They’ll wilt as soon as the summer heat arrives in June.

The Cardinal and the Dogwood

The green leaves are nearly fully out in the Habitat. Thankfully, the dogwood blooms remain, through they are fading fast. Of course, when the Northern Cardinal visits the Habitat, we have the marriage of the Virginia stat bird and the Virginia state flower/tree - the Cardinal and the Dogwood.Update:
>5 weeks since the last red-tailed fox was seen
>6 weeks since the last red-shouldered hawk was seen
>10 weeks since the last Cooper's hawk was seen
>No bluebirds in the new bluebird house
>No hummingbirds seen yet
>No flickers seen yet

Dogwoods in Bloom

The dogwoods, the official state flower and tree of Virginia, are in full bloom.
This photo was taken a bit earlier in April on an overcast day, so their white flower is not quite realized.

American Goldfinch Shows Another Sign of Spring

Even as snow fell late on Friday afternoon, two addition signs of spring were clearly visible in the Colvin Run Habitat.
The male American goldfinch is clearly beginning to show his summer, bright yellow feathers. The first photo shows one of the Male goldfinches perched in the dogwood tree, whose increasing red and full buds and shoots are the second sign of spring.
The second photo shows one of the males with several females, who will remain olive throughout the summer, with a house finch in the background.

Is Spring Springing?

Today is the Ides of March. The 15th. Halfway between 'March coming in like a lion' and 'leaving like a lamb.' So it was not a surprise that there are blooms on one of the trees. The first photo shows one of the maples 'blooming.' The surprise is that the first tree blooming is a maple (and not a Bradford pear) and that it is the only maple blooming. Guess we have a tree that just could not wait. My memory says that this lone maple is about 2-3 weeks ahead of schedule.
The morning of the Ides started out in the upper 60’s, so it was a great day to get some photos of the white-breasted nuthatch and the downy woodpecker. This female downy is noticeably larger than the other downies.
By dusk, the temperature had fallen by 20 degrees and it was raining. The forecast is for nearly three inches of rain with the last falling as measurable snow tomorrow night. On the Ides, March is a bit scysophrenic about being a lion or a lamb.