embracing spring.....until.....

Over the past few days, lots of the snow melted due to lovely temperatures and lots of sunshine.  This gave way to muddy and puddly pathways which I embraced by slopping through and splashing in, all the while taking in the sights and sounds of spring.  

The birds, ducks and geese are quite entertaining these days with all their flirting and one can get a good fill of that at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, which is where I went on this day.  At this time of year, with each day, come new arrivals.  I follow eBird to see what others are seeing with hopes I will see what they saw.  I saw the usual suspects and did have success with spotting new arrivals.  

male Downy Woodpecker

Red-Breasted Nuthatch

Canada Goose on guard

The Wood Ducks are returning from where they winter!  

This was my first sighting this season.  

a colourful male and his sweetie 

White-Breasted Nuthatch

Even ducks can be hybrids!  This duck is part Common Goldeneye and part Hooded Merganser.  I needed help with making an ID on this one, other than using the Merlin app and my bird book.  The knowledgable  people at Alberta Birds came through for me as they always do.  Seeing this hybrid is a "lifer" for me.

The Robins continue to arrive and they were plentiful on this day.  

Northern Flicker hopefully making an impression by singing a song!  

🌞 🌞 🌞 🌞 🌞

Make hay while the sun shines!  That's what I felt I should do on this day before the snow begins to fall once again.   I went for the hop, skip and a jump distance away to Confluence Park.  The last time I was here, I was breaking trail through snow, which I could be doing again in a couple of days.  I enjoyed seeing the many shades of brown.  Enough with the snow, I am all whited out!  I left the Birth Forest behind and followed the grassy trail towards the creek. 

The creek is free of ice and many Mallards have taken up residence on its shores.  Hearing the river run this morning was a pleasant soothing sound.  While listening to that soothing sound, I was also watching the sky burst forth with dark menacing clouds!  

What I did keep doing was removing my sunglasses to confirm the sky was that dark and what blue there was, was truly that pretty blue.  All the shades of spring were popping especially the reds.

I will admit, in the open grassy areas that catch lots of sun, I did check for crocuses as it is that time of year where they begin to sprout out from the ground.  I had no luck!  When I got home, I noticed someone posted photos of crocus buds they saw.  I did see a couple hoovering around an area up on a hill, I bet it was them.    

The sky continued to get darker!

The dramatic looking clouds were taking over the sky, yet, 

I was still optimistic and hopeful that pretty blue would win out.  

It was a nice treat to have these lovely spring days to embrace.....

.....until.....

Just like that, it snowed and snowed and snowed and it is still snowing!  

While I still have my winter tires on, I was not feeling brave enough to drive far so I did that hope, skip and jump again to Confluence Park.  Oh the confusion!  This bunny was sitting in a tire track in the parking lot looking baffled.  You can see it is already changing into a summer coat. Throughout winter, it is pure white.  In summer, it will be fully brown.

As the snow fell, I carried on with learning more macrame stitches.  This is my latest project, a star. I took it with me on the walk so I could captured a photo of it out in nature.  It now hangs on my fairy light tree having a little adventurous story to tell.  The star could appear better if I paid more attention to the tightness of the knots and their placement.  

Earlier I told you all the shades of spring were popping especially the reds, well, those same reds still pop dressed all in winter white!   I broke trail out and back in snow which reached the top of my ankles.  This snow is not that fluffy puffy pillowy marshmallow snow rather it's that wet heavy feel it in the calves snow.  

We are in for a wintry weekend! 

Come on now, April Fools is well over!