Iris

These irises bloomed yesterday but it never stopped raining long enough to take a photo!

How Green!

...are there lilac buds!

Wait, There's More!

Note to self: Stop publishing entries at lunch.  This time of year, there will likely be more discoveries by day's end!  In this case... the first American hazels are both male-flowering (catkins are swelling) and female-flowering (those are the tiny dark pink tufts there).  In a clump of shrubs, some are in full flowers, others look like they did in the middle of winter, with no signs of sexuality at all! 

Speaking of catkins -- the best known of them are pussy willows, which are also starting to bloom. 

And look!  I finally got a picture of Sandhill Cranes.  They are flying over in large numbers today; I've heard reports of sightings from several people. 

Springing

Just yesterday, the alder catkins were tight brown clusters; today they're opening, revealing their inner green to the world.  It may still be winter, but right now, spring seems to be everywhere... the whole world is showing its inner green.  Yesterday... yesterday was one of those days when being outside, it seemed like it could cure anything.  Like it would have been impossible not to be invigorated, inspired, uplifted out there.  There were chorus frogs chorusing, the first time this spring I'd heard that song, interrupted by the distinct call of sandhill cranes.  And not from high above my head... cranes were calling from ground level, as though they've come back, settled in.  Even the prairie itself seemed to be ready to burst... below, an area that was burned in the fall has a faint green tinge to it.  Just a little color, peeking through, beneath the brown, telling us it won't be long now.  (Speaking of long... like my shadow?)

Also... last night's rain brought worms out from the saturated soil.  (I know, this one's dead, but t had to be alive to come out, right?)

Crocus Pocus

I spotted my first blooming crocus of the year -- actually saw about 50 of them, in 3 separate yards... and here's a woolly bear, a week after my first sighting of the spring.  

More Updates

First silver maple flowers... And below, a groundhog I saw swimming today.

First Flowers, Honey!

The Vernal Witch Hazels are flowering, their tiny but bright and celebratory petals celebrating our wonderful spring weather, and attracting the pollinators... As I knelt to take pictures of the blooms, I heard a buzzing and started to notice that the bushes were a-buzz with bees!  I caught this one in flight.