Meditations on Ice, Part 2

Despite all that freezing and thawing, have there been any signs of life out there?

Rabbit tracks are criss-crossing the pawpaw patch.
The inch or so of snow warmed sufficiently to show the traffic in the pawpaw patch. Rabbits, mostly, and they are eating safflower seed out of the doves’ food dish on the ground. Photographed on February 3, 2019.

Yes. I had been somewhat concerned about the hanging feeder not emptying quickly, but this warmish day showed plenty of rabbit activity, and they must be quite hungry. I spotted a skinny rabbit in that dish one night when I looked out the kitchen window—they only come to the dish at night.

I am beginning to see black-capped chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, cardinals, and mourning doves, but they are not going through the seed as they have in years past. Despite the weather, daffodils, snowdrops, and crocuses have broken ground, and the witch hazel flowers are unfurling when it gets above freezing.

Some crocuses appeared, snuggled up to the south wall. Photographed on March 6, 2019.

These crocuses were moved from elsewhere, and I suspect the chipmunks of being their movers as they seem to be my most ambitious farmers. It would be more accurate to say that the big crocus was moved; the five satellite crocuses probably divided off the larger one that they are surrounding. The snowdrops are also peeking out, at least where there are breaks in the snow.

a small cluster of snowdrops with flowerbeds peek out of a break in the snow.
The snowdrops have budded up; the blueish cast may be due to the fact that it was 21°F when this photograph was taken. Photographed on March 6, 2019.

There is still some Rudbeckia seed for the chickadees out front, but I think those seed heads may be too close to the ground for the chickadees to feel safe.

The black-eyed Susans’ seed heads are casting great shadows on the snow. These are just south of the downspout that feeds the rain garden and near the honey locust that the chickadees hang out in. Photographed on February 18, 2019.

The early spring bulbs are running slightly behind, but a few warm days should bring a lot of changes fast.