Monday, January 10, 2011

Harbinger of Spring


Or Prophet of Snow?

On Friday we noticed large flocks of birds in the yard... cardinals and robins, mostly, feeding on the ground and flying up into the pear tree. I exclaimed, "Oooh... harbingers of spring!!" My husband wryly said, "Nope, predictors of snow." Sure enough, that night snow fell, albeit not much, just enough to make everything pretty with a powdered-sugar coating. Yet some of it remained on the ground throughout the weekend since our temperatures stayed mighty cold.

Yesterday morning I noticed much movement outside the window beside my computer desk, and there, filling the two persimmon trees were more robins, joined by cedar waxwings, feasting on the last remaining persimmons in the top-most branches. (Our dogs have enjoyed the fruits that have fallen to the ground for the past several weeks.) So, again the question... harbinger of spring or prophet of snow? Alas, it's not spring yet. Snow is falling again today; weather predictions have varied, so I'm simply waiting to see what happens throughout the day and tonight. But in the meantime, I know that the birds are out there and that spring can't be too far behind!



3 comments:

  1. I wish it were a harbinger of spring, but I fear we have a snow storm on the horizon.

    I used to love the change of the seasons, but winter some days, makes me a hermit and I'm not sure that's a good thing.

    Your photos, as always, are lovely.
    xoSherry

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  2. I did not realize birds were snow prophets ! That's pretty cool :)

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  3. We have carndinals here all winter, but I did notice that there were also robins around and that is unusual. We got snow Sunday night! There's my answer.

    I love cedar waxwings! They come through in the fall and strip the hollies on their way to wherever they go.

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