I should stop being impressed by how far the sun travels south to north at sunset during the change of seasons. But I still am. Above is the sun over Okemo in Vermont on December 19.
Below, not even half way to the Summer Solstice, the sun is already setting behind Pico on March 11. In this photo Killington is in the center and Okemo is off the image to the left, about four times as far from Killington as Pico is.
An easy early March hike with the Hanover Conservancy led to a large glacial erratic along the Black Bear Loop in the Britton Forest.
The deep snow was crusty in our yard and the wind blew some light snow into the depressions in the snow. That made animal tracks appear there as if by magic since there was no sign of them on the crust.
It snowed a bit on March 14. The birch behind the moving snowflakes made a nice white palette for the yellow beech leaves that remain during the winter. A Tufted Titmouse looked a bit puzzled by the snow.
Here is a Common Redpoll in the snow.
On a hike in Etna we found some ostrich fern fronds with an interesting pattern in the partly melted snow.
We had a pair of corvid visitors, fortunately not the covid kind. Corvids display remarkable intelligence and are among the most intelligent birds. I don’t seem to be intelligent enough to tell the difference between Crows and Ravens most times. I got some help from an expert birder who says these are Ravens.
A young and friendly neighbor stopped by briefly before her owner corralled her.
Red-breasted Nuthatches are not exactly rare, but during some years they are mostly found in the north.
This is the season when turkeys start displaying. I did not catch this one in action, but he was keeping his eyes on a group of females more than worrying about me.
The sun turned the hills of Vermont between Etna and Killington bright yellow.
The next night there was another nice display. Killington is on the left and Pico is on the right.
The snow along the roads was getting pretty ragged looking. But that did not keep me from taking a few photos of the ravages of the snow plows.
Even on the second day of Spring, the Common Redpolls were still around. Time to head back north, guys.
We have had up to 50 in our yard for a few months this winter. Perhaps there was one flock or several flocks moving through.
Not much snow left this morning in Lyme, but I liked the shadows on the barn.
The Connecticut River is no longer good for ice skating, but this morning was too early for ducks. Too much was still not open water. Perhaps in a few days or a week at the most the ducks will be back. But a brief trip to Campbell Flat in Norwich netted a Red-winged Blackbird calling repeatedly hoping females would not be too far behind on their trip north.
