March 2016
During March we started to see some definite signs that spring is on the way. Birds returned to the area and more wildlife started to appear around the property. We had spring-like thaws followed by more snow and deep freezing and then more mild weather again. It was really all over the place! The beginning of the month started with very cold weather and then a sudden thaw which created some amazing frost. I took so many photos I had to move them all to their own page. Click here to see the March 5, 2016 Frost Photos.
We were lucky to see a huge flock of Snow Buntings land on the driveway. These birds were on their way to north of the Arctic Circle.
We were lucky to see a huge flock of Snow Buntings land on the driveway. These birds were on their way to north of the Arctic Circle.
The real sign of spring is seeing the return of Robins. During the month large numbers of them returned and are enjoying spending their days in the fields. The turkeys are also still around in the fields getting ready for breeding season.
March gave us a fantastic frost day and later in the month a nice ice storm too. These ice storms can get pretty nasty but we got lucky this time. The coating of ice was just enough to create some nice scenes to photograph and not heavy enough to do any damage around here.
During one of the mild weeks a beaver visited the pond. He only stayed for a day or so and then moved on to another pond. A few days after these photos were taken we were hit by more very cold weather which froze over the pond completely again. Hopefully the beaver found a good place to shelter by the time that cold weather set in again. The following photos aren't the most clear as I was shooting from the house while it was almost dark outside.
All the beaver's hard work and toughness in the elements inspired our cat to try being just like the beaver. He thought about it for a moment, stretched, purred and went back to sleep. Here he is hard at work again.
The mornings are still below freezing so we are seeing some interesting frosts in the early morning light. These frost crystals are highly reflective and make the landscape look like it has been dusted with diamonds. It's very hard to photograph that effect though since most camera lenses have anti-glare coatings on them which in this case eliminates the sparkle of the frost. I found that the best way to sort of capture the effect is to focus on some close-up crystals and let a mass of sparkling frost in the background fall out of focus and show as circular highlights.
We had a very mild couple of days which caused a rapid thaw on the lakes and some very thick steamy fog. That great weather tricked all of us into believing winter was over. It was a nice mild spell while it lasted. Here are some photos taken in and around the town.
Finally, here are a few photos of some amethyst rocks Devon and I found while out exploring the land around the house. I should have put these up with the February photos since amethyst is the birthstone of that month!
