Spring&#39;s Gentle Entrance

"In the spring when gentle Sister South Wind
kissed away all the snow and ice..."

This line is taken from Thornton W. Burgess' book Mother West Wind's Children. ( I still love to read Burgess' books)

Our cloudy skies have opened up to beautiful, clear sunshine this week with cool northerly winds. This slow warming has prevented a rapid thaw which would cause ice jams and flooding of rivers and streams. We had about half the usual amount of snow this winter (taking note that winter is not yet over) but temperatures were cold and the Grand River near the hospital was frozen over most of the time. Last March I posted pictures of bus-sized ice chunks thrown up on the banks below the hospital. This year the ice is thinning and moving slowly downstream.

These are days when I can hardly wait to get out of work and soak up some sunlight on a local trail. Black ice is treacherous in the morning as melt water freezes on pavement, but by afternoon walking is easy and puddle jumping is necessary.

Goldeneye in foreground,
m. and f. Common Mergansers sleeping in background

Sister South Wind is forecasted to make an appearance on the weekend and she will likely encourage many birds to travel in a northerly direction. Common Mergansers, Goldeneye Ducks and American Tree Sparrows will be leaving us shortly and I predict that Red winged Blackbirds will be heard in these marshes in the next couple of days. Black-capped Chickadees are starting to pair off in preparation for their breeding season and spring songs of many birds fill the trees.