Willow buds blooming!

One of my favorite spring events is the blooming of willow flowers. This cotton-ball-like emerging buds will soon elongate and male flowers with yellowish pollen will stick out among the silver hair. The amount of pollen is so enormous that the ground underneath willow trees often gets yellow all over. Pollen produced this time is also a great food source for insects, mammals and birds. Pollen is a precious source of protein and minerals in early spring when other food is yet too scarce.

The Great Tit

Despite the chilling in the morning, birds are becoming active. A male Great Tit peeked in one of my nest boxes. The tit looks quite "bald" in the back of his head.

Frost in spring

It was quite cold this morning. The lowest was -3.5C. When I was getting into my car, I noticed the windshield was frozen. Took me more than 5 minutes to thaw the ice before I could get out of the driveway. Notice the color of the sky reflected on the glass is deeper blue than it used to be a month ago?

Out in the country

The countryside is still covered with blanket of snow, though the blanket is getting thinner and thinner every day. In other parts, you see mosaics of bare earth and snow cover.

Icy Streets

The streets are icy and skiddish early in the morning. But I kind of like such treacherous

and nerve-wracking road conditions. Why? I don't know. Does anyone have the answer?

Mountain Road

Today I went over the mountains to get to the other side of the city. This was taken on the way back. The moutainsides are still in deep snow. But the color of the sky is deeper blue than what we were seeing in February. We should be careful of avalanches.

Fresh Snow

I wanted to take a picture of the snow surface not yet disturbed by car tires, but that seems impossible. Many people start working at very early hours. How many snow falls are we going to get before spring finally arrives?

After a low pressure system passed...

We are left with about 15cm of new snow accumulation. It is sunny right now and really beatiful.

The River at the end of winter

The ground is messy around this time of the year. Dirt starts show in melting snow. Wet and splashy everywhere. At several snow dump sites along the river, huge quantity of snow is going to be pushed out into the river, which is probably not a very good thing for the health of river ecosystem. Alternative methods to clear the riverside of snow are gradually being implemented.

Our Iron Shovel

That's why our iron shovel is standing idlly most of the time.

Breaking Ice and Snow

Some people cannot wait till snow melts and goes away. So, they break sheets of compressed snow to pieces and let it melt quickly. I myself want to leave snowand ice untouched and let melt only by the power of nature. That way, I think, we can keep the microclimate cooler longer and curve global warming even by just a tiny bit.

Rain Drops Dancing

Warm rain drops fell, as if they were dancing. Everywhere!

Sure Sign of Spring

It happened almost overnight! It rained and soil started to appear!

It snowed again this morning.

It looks like the season made a step backward. But the way snow clings to trees is a sure sign of spring! The winds are warm and the sun is getting stronger even through the snow clouds.

Icicles are gone.

Icicles are gone! And, rain drops are beating the window pretty hard.

Melting Snow

Though the air temperature remains sub-zero most of the day, the sun is regaining power to melt snow surely and steadily...in mosaics of white, gray and silver.

The Sun's abstract sculpture.

Frozen Windshield

Water freezes like this, when the air is moist but the temperature does not go down so quickly. The air temperature when photographed was 2 degrees C below zero.