The other thing that is amazing to me is how quickly life returns with a few warm days--I would not have believed leaving home this morning that I would return home with pictures of butterflies--see the Mourning Cloak and Comma below. These are two of our earliest each year. Turtles were sunning everywhere. There are mostly winter bird residents still around, but the spring migration should very soon be underway.
GREAT NEWS! The Osprey pair that have been nesting in the park for several years are back!! The new powerlines that are being replaced required that their nesting platform be replaced with one that is only half as high as the previous one, and many of us worried that they may not take to the new one. Well, as you can see in the pictures below, they seem to have already adopted the place as their site and are engaging in courtship and nest building-- so we can look forward to new babies soon!
I must warn you that the park is quite flooded from the recent snow melt and rain--you can only walk the main road as far as the second power lines. The water should subside in a few days--time to get out there and enjoy this warmth!! See pics below.