It turns out...

...it is actually still winter.  We didn't get a lot of snow, but significantly, it was cold enough for what we did get to stick on the ground for a while.  

More Flowers People Ignore

Actually, this catkin -- which is a pussy willow -- is the one catkin people don't ignore!

Today the American Hazel catkins are starting to loosen up!

Flowers People Ignore

Many trees and shrubs flower well before they leaf out, and most people don't notice it happening at all because the flowers are often small and/or green and/or lacking in petals.  I reported on a couple yesterday, and there are a few more that will be popping tomorrow or the next day, but here's today's batch:

Alder catkins were tight brown clusters yesterday, but today were significantly swollen and dangly with their green pollen showing.  Unfortunately, it was a pretty windy day and things that hang down to catch the wind are not easy to photograph up close in those conditions, so here's a further-out view:

This tiny and vibrantly pink thing is the female flower of the American hazel.  Though it's brightly colored, they are only about 2-3 mm in size, so get little notice.  (The male flowers are catkins, smaller and lighter-colored than the alder ones, but otherwise similar.  Generally speaking, they and the female flowers bloom around the same time within a population, but NOT at the same time on a single shrub, so as to increase genetic variability by prohibiting individuals from pollinating themselves.  In the cluster of 6ish shrubs that I passed, I found female flowers, but no catkins had swelled/released pollen yet.  Usually you see that first, but... I guess the ladies are going to be lonely for a little while!  Or perhaps there's other hazels nearby to pollinate them.)

PS -- It's supposed to get all cold again tomorrow.  It's come to that -- a predicted high of 46 deg. in February is what I consider "all cold" -- 32 on Saturday, though.  That's actually wintry!  

Still Warm...

Today we took an after-school walk, and for a good 10 minutes there was a cloud of gnats surrounding us.  That certainly didn't seem wintry.  Just saying. 

These aspen catkins have been peeking out for a while, but they definitely got bigger and fuzzier over the weekend.

And the vernal witch hazel is flowering, its tiny but bright orange petals uncurling from their buds. 

A Semi-Tropical Weekend

The most clear and obvious sign of spring, or climate change, over the long weekend, was certainly the weather.  It hit 70 on Saturday, and was in the 60's Sunday and Monday.  The next 2 days, at least, promise to be as warm.
Here are some other signs of spring that I saw this weekend:
Showdrops -- these have probably been up for quite a while, I just haven't looked.

Photo 2/18/17

It was probably a great weekend for birders.  Even as a not-birder, I noticed that there was a lot of activity... things that are here all winter were just active and noisy.  I saw robins (which used to be a harbinger or spring) and killdeer abounded.  We are technically in the summer range of the killdeer, according to Cornell, but we're so close to the year-round range that seeing them now isn't necessarily hugely significant.  There were ducks, mallard and otherwise, swimming in the open waters.  Red-wing black birds were all over, their calls piercing the air.  (I know that photo isn't clearly recognizable as a RWBB, you'll have to trust me on that!)

Photo 2/18/17

Silver maples always have early-swelling buds, but these ones are definitely opening and letting their flower parts show:

Photo 2/18/17

I also saw my first woolly bear of the spring.  I also saw a millipede, and we had a little cranefly in our house.

Photo 2/20/17

Welcome Back!

Yes, it's been a while... over two months that I've been remiss in reporting the weather oddities of this winter.  Here's a brief overview.  December was actually quite snowy and wintry.  We never had a school-cancelling type of precipitation event, but we had several 6-inch snowfalls at regular intervals.  And then, over the holidays, it melted on a couple of 50 degree days... and it never came back!

January was a month of interesting records, some of them official.  We had the least amount of snow (that is to say, we had no snow).  It rained several times, so I can't say it was the driest January, just the least-snowy.  January also had a strong of days in the double digits long where we didn't see the sun at all.  I believe it was the cloudiest January... it seemed like it, at any rate.  (Except for women's march day -- that day was sunny and lovely and warm!) 

February has just been mild.  We've had some lovely sunny days, some warm days... this crazy winter has made regular winter days seem unbearably cold.  Every once in a while we have a day in the 20's, which would be a normal winter day in any other winter, and everyone (including me) carries on like it's the coming of the next ice age.  And then after a day or two, it's in the forties again.  OR the fifties, or the sixties.  Today it hit 63, and it's supposed to be in the sixties for the next 3 days.

What prompted me to get out my camera was open water.  The ice hasn't been safe for a while, but it's been covering most of the lake.  Yesterday it was well over 50% covered.  Today:  

Mostly open water!  I'm sure what's still left will be gone soon, what with the predicted warm weekend.  I'll be honest, the weather is disturbing, both in the short term and in the big picture, but you can't change the weather (in the short term, anyhow). So I'm going to try and focus on enjoying it rather than worrying about it!