We had about 15cm of snow last week and there is another 20cm forecast for this coming week. Our daytime highs have only been between -2 and +6. Nights have been in the negative temperatures. Even with this slow start, I do see a few signs of spring.
Our property has many patches of willow groves. They are thick and make great hiding places for deer, moose and ruffed grouse.
During the warm spell in January some of the willows that get afternoon sun started opening their catkin pods. This week I could see more areas with the white fuzzy tips. Some on higher branches like these.
Others on new growth and lower willows that I pass when I snowshoe.
It is more difficult to find uneaten new growth this year. The snow is still 2-3 feet deep in the thickets. The moose have wandered through the paths I have cleared and eaten the new growth. There won’t be any pussy willows in those areas this year or many flexible branches for weaving.
I did manage to get a few willow branches on a warm day a few weeks ago. I had to trudge around most of our property to find enough long new growth branches to make this bunny.
Some other signs of spring that I have seen are snowbanks in sunny areas slowly receding and the leftover long grasses from fall are emerging again.
We are seeing more deer again because the snow in the fields is melting and they come to eat any leftover crops still on the fields. Young deer leave their mothers shortly before the mother is to have another birth. Three deer, under a year, came on their own to eat the grass that had emerged on the south side of our house. Their legs were so short that the deer were only the size of an adult sheep. They laid down and ate for a few hours.
I haven’t yet seen a robin but I did see some scouting geese fly over a few days ago. They saw our snow and kept flying north. I don’t know if they realize it but there is a lot less snow in the far north.
We have also had some beautiful sunrises. With the time change, as long as I am up before 7:45am, I get to see some beautiful pinks and oranges. Soon enough the sun will be rising way before I get out of bed. Dawn will be, on our longest day, at 4:15am with the sun actually rising an hour later at 5:15am.
It will be a different spring from any that we have experienced since living in Grande Prairie. Our first spring, after a similar amount of snow, came pretty early with the spring run off pooling in our yard on April 2. Unless, a heat wave comes through in the next week, and that is not forecasted, there won’t be any water for a while still.
It is good news for wildfires here as it will likely still be wet through green up; when leaves emerge on the trees. There is less chance of fires after that.
A housefly buzzing around me in the sun, the Chickadees singing their mating tunes, Redpolls congregating before flying together farther north, the sun up earlier every day…these are little reminders that eventually spring will be here. Perhaps, like many years in the north, we will go from winter right into summer this year and be left wondering what happened to spring.
I afree, Spring will be short!