Below freezing temp and ice on pond

The wind has died down, and with the morning temperature hovering at 27F, there is a thin film of ice on the south side of Caesar Pond. I am officially in the mood for temps. in the mid-60's, but that is at least 10 days away...And, we've got another couple of mornings, coming up, in the 20's as well.

Birds and flowers on a snowy day

Our poor springtime flowers. The alternating super cold nights and warm days wreaked havoc on the spring bulbs. I have had very few daffodils actually hold their flower stalks upright, and a vole has demolished lots of the bulbs in my main stump garden. Thus, it has been a very disappointing flower season. I was hoping that the later blooming daffodils would brighten the yard with strong stems, and that looked to be the case yesterday, but it all changed today. And, we are supposed to get temperatures dipping into the 20's overnight, so I don't hold much hope for my early spring bulbs anymore...

A group of gregarious grackles chowed down on bird seed today.

Drew took some time to shoot a few photos of birds visiting our bird feeder and bird bath! I actually had him set up the hummingbird feeder today, as well.

The grackles were cantankerous as usual. I love the splayed out tail of this bird. It is so pretty.

This grackle was searching for seeds that fell into the snow.

Drew also saw a few sparrows who flew in after the grackles.

White-throated sparrow, adult white striped individual.

This white-throated sparrow really shows off the beautiful, yellow lores between its beak and eyes. There are several different color patterns displayed by these sparrows.

White-throated sparrow, adult tan-striped individual.

This individual is more of a tan-striped individual. The yellow lores are not as prominent, and the head stripes are more tan than white. It's breast is more gray in color as well.

Snow Total for the 2015-2016 Winter

Snow Total: 50.5" of snow fell this season. At least I think we are done;-) This El Nino year brings us lots of surprises!

Snowy Day in late April

Who'd a thunk that we'd need a snow plow this late in the season!

Ha! What the heck? We were figuring on a snow shower or two, and we ended up getting about 5" of snow over the course of the day. So crazy! There have only been 15 other times, since 1871, that snow has fallen this late in the year. I'm glad we only got 5 inches.

Panorama of the front deck.

It sure was pretty outside, but the roads did get quite slick during the day. The snow plows didn't come out any too early, and quite a few cars went off the road around the state.

This was a heavy, wet springtime snow.

Our snow table tells all. We are hoping that the snow will melt by tomorrow afternoon.

Hummingbirds seen in Maine

Who'd a thunk! There have been Ruby-throated hummingbirds seen in Maine already! Hummingbirds.net is the place to go to see reported sitings all over the USA. Cool. Here is a small snapshot of Maine where the first hummer was seen as early as April 13th. Drew is going to put out the hummingbird feeder tomorrow just in case an hummers make their way up to our house;-)

Bowdoin Weather Update

Never fear, even though spring is here, we may not have seen the last of the snow. We are scheduled to get rain mixed with snow on Tuesday;-) Every time I think that we have seen the last of the below freezing nighttime temps., I get surprised. We'll have two more mornings, below freezing, this coming week.

La Nina and our summertime temps.

Ohhhh....Ugga Bugga...Here is the forecast for this summer from Weather.com.

"The historically strong El Nino event is weakening rapidly and we should transition to La Nina conditions by summer and this favors another hot summer, especially across the northern U.S.," said Dr. Crawford. 

Another factor to consider regarding temperatures this summer are sea surface temperatures in the western North Atlantic, which are forecast to be warmer than we have seen over the past five years. That often results in warmer temperatures in the eastern U.S.  In addition, conditions across the Pacific Ocean, influenced by the strong El Nino, will favor warmer-than-average temperatures across much of the West, especially the Pacific Northwest. 

Most computer forecast models continue to suggest that the transition from El Nino to La Nina conditions will occur this summer. Typically, La Nina summers feature hotter temperatures from the central U.S. into the Northeast, with the hottest month being July.  

Crawford notes that during previous years where rapid changes from El Nino to La Nina occurred, the worst of the summer heat was focused from the northern Plains to the Great Lakes states. 

Overall,  computer model guidance indicates widespread warmth with little hint of cooler than average temperatures across the nation. The West will likely see warm and dry conditions, strongly influenced by the recent El Nino."

Northern Flicker

We saw a Northern Flicker digging for insects in our backyard this afternoon. Last year, we saw him on April 26th, so he is a bit early this year. I wasn't able to get any photos, but here he is from last year.

Weekly Weather - No more snow

Well, it looks like I can finally say that we are no longer expecting any snow. Yay! Now, we can put the dock in the water and start the boating season;-) I think that will happen when I get back from my spring break vacation. Or, maybe the dock will be put in while I am gone! Hey Dale, we'll help you put your dock in, in exchange for you assisting us with our dock;-)

By the way, this is our 200th post for the new MND, on Blogger.

Light Snow

Not again! This morning, we had a thin film of ice on the southern part to the pond surface, and tonight we are getting about an inch of snow, with wind gusts of 40mph, changing to rain at 3am. 

At this point, I am longing for warmer daytime and nighttime temps. This nonsense of the teens at night, and 30's during the day is getting old, old, old... 

Weather Update

We just cannot seem to get into a solid, warm stretch of weather. Here is what we have for this week!

First walk since fracturing toes

Let the photography begin...soon... I just took my first walk down the road since fracturing my toes 5.5 weeks ago, and it felt sooo good to be out and about again. Healing isn't complete, and I have to stay on flat ground, but flat ground is better than no ground;-)

The first peeps from peepers

Nope, this is not an April Fools joke...Drew and Shannon both heard the first spring peepers this morning. So, Spring has officially sprung here at Caesar Pond, at least for today. We'll be in the deep freeze again on Sunday.