Early spring is a great time to start a nature diary. The season offers so many opportunities to hone our observation skills and explore in our writing what the world of nature can teach us. Here are my entries for the past few days:
March 7: A commotion of Violet-Green Swallows over the driveway. “We’re back!” they twitter. All four of them swoop up to the porch corner where a nest of grass and feathers has filled with baby swallows each of the past three years. As the humble steward of their nesting site, I feel a rush of joy in a gray time.
March 9: In the circling of ravens over the gulch, a flash of white. The Osprey has returned after wintering in the south.
March 10: The first Calypso Orchid has shown her head in the grove of firs I pass on my daily walk. I know her sisters will soon follow.
March 14
Here in Anderson valley I see the birds on the wires now and I'm alert for the blue jays there too-a sure sign of spring.
I'm enjoying the lambs on my walks in the hills-they are growing up fast.
Posted by: Doug Fortier | March 14, 2009 at 10:37 AM