I took a stroll by the lake in our local park today. One of the Egyptian geese was puffed up like a beachball. The reason soon became clear:
That many chicks take a lot of sheltering. Twelve by my count.
j
Oh my gosh, adorable!
Yesterday was a good day for me. I was walking in a wooded area of my yard, with the dogs, when suddenly one veered off the path ahead. I thought they’d seen a snake. But then there was a great commotion in the underbrush, and a deer ran right in front of me and jumped over the fence. Closest I’ve ever been to one.
Ain’t they big, when they’re close up and moving fast towards you?
j
Yep, I felt very respectful of that deer’s power to run me over!
I was in the woods with dogs when a huge buck ran across the trail within a couple of feet of me. OMG! All I saw was this massive body, I thought at first it was a horse!
I’ve had a bedded down deer pop up in a meadow in front of my horse. Never been thrown in that situation, but have come close.
In the last couple of years I have had four close encounters with deer whilst riding a bike (the most recent is described in this thread at post 2866). There’s just nothing you can do when it happens. Shut your eyes and brace. I have also ridden downhill through woods with deer running alongside me, which should have been terrifying, but the exhilaration of it won out on that occasion.
In other news: out on the bike this morning, I saw this:
Image cropped by Google, of course. Click for the full photo. It may not seem much, but it’s the first bluebell - one of the waymarkers of my year. In two weeks all of the woodland round these parts will be carpeted with rich, beautiful blue. Spring.
j
Wind blew pear blossoms onto my yard from a neighbor’s across the street. It was pretty.
Please post a pic for me when it happens. I am totally missing out on wildlife this year, plant and animal. We’ve had a very unusual non-winter where I live and I haven’t had the energy to go explore the local parks, given my crazy work schedule. I need plants and birds and rocks and things.
We have something similar; I’ll have to try to identify it.
Do you need a horse?
I’ve seen a bunch of spring ephemerals here.
Glory-of-the-snow:
Yellow violet:
Loads of Virginia Spring Beauty:
Plus purple violets, tiny field pansies and lots of trout lily leaves, though I haven’t seen any blooms on those yet.
Saw a Bald Eagle yesterday along I-25 on the Wyoming/Colorado border. Not sure but I think it’s very early in the year to be seeing that.
Correction: today I learned that Bald Eagles are known to start incubating eggs in late February in this region.
I would love a horse, but I weigh too much for anything but a Percheron. Maybe an e-bike. 
Our spring ephemerals are starting to come out:
Lesser celandine:
pretty, but not native, alas
and lesser periwinkle
also not native
Fortunately this great blue heron is:
Not me, but Mrs Magill had a visitor outside her window.
Forsythia is blooming, beautiful yellow flowers. They do not last long enough, that’s my only forsythia complaint.
After the significant snowfall we had at the beginning of the week, I can now see what activities are going on while I’m asleep. While walking the dogs this morning (morning walks are through the neighborhood) I saw a lot of coyote tracks weaving back and forth across the road, down the sidewalk, into the swampy areas, and into yards. There were also deer tracks and rabbit tracks but in different areas from the coyote tracks. The rabbits are either smart or just lucky! I saw the spot an owl must have landed and had its wings covering its meal. Also little tiny mouse or shrew prints.