Thursday, April 28, 2011

It's beginning to look a lot like spring

The deer have returned.  They migrated down the valley when the snow got too deep around here, but they have recently reappeared.

The river is mostly clear.

More new arrivals:  white-crowned sparrow (lower left) and cassin's finch (upper right).

Columbian ground squirrel.

A few long, sunny days have pushed the snow back.

Friday, April 22, 2011

A spring day in the life

Snowy morning, all morning.

Hairy woodpecker.

First pine siskins of the year.

The new snow melts in the fourteen hours of daylight.

Old grass flattened by lying under two feet of snow most of the winter.

First wildflower of the spring: early buttercup.

Late afternoon.


Sunset. 

Thursday, April 21, 2011

The river chair was back in service, briefly.

Across the river.

Chunk of ice still hanging on.



Then it started to snow again.  The forecast says we should get between 3-9 inches of new snow between now and Friday night.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Early, inchoate, incipient, pre-spring

Progress on the snow melt.

First ground squirrel of the year.  Scrawny after almost nine months of hibernation.

Impersonating Bigfoot.
(As Mitch Hedberg said, "I think Bigfoot is just blurry, which is extra scary because there's a large out-of-focus monster roaming the countryside.") 

Then it started snowing again.  Not cold enough to stick for long, but snowy enough to piss you off.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Should be an interesting spring


From The Missoulian:  An already abundant winter snowpack has continued to accumulate in the mountains across western Montana this past month, creating an even greater potential for flooding than predicted.  Ray Nickless, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Missoula, says nearly all rivers and creeks in the Missoula, Flathead, Swan and Bitterroot valleys are likely to approach flood levels from this winter's snowpack alone.  If we get high temperatures or a lot of rain, it could be worse.
Still pretty low for now, but I may eventually have to move my chair (if the ice ever lets go of it).

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Spring has been postponed indefinitely

April 13, 2011.  Snow still about knee-deep.

April 13, 2010.  Snow?

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Thawing of the river


February 12, 2011


March 8, 2011

March 14, 2011

March 21, 2011

March 31, 2011

April 4, 2011

Monday, April 4, 2011

A river runs through it again




Some Birds of Spring


Dark-eyed junco.

Hairy woodpecker (male).

Hairy woodpecker (female).

Spotted towhee, junco, hairy woodpecker.

Spotted towhee.

Mountain chickadee and junco (Oregon form).

Red-naped sapsucker.

Flicker and sapsucker.