Brown Season: Searching

Escape Route: Shaulis Road

Well, I'm pretty sure Spring is here and it is stuck in. Winter might throw another desperate punch at us, but it will largely be a grazing blow, and Spring may stumble but it isn't disappearing until Summer takes over. 

That's my take on it, anyway. And I feel pretty justified in that. We're experiencing upper 50's, the snow is almost completely gone, and the ground is unfreezing. The birds are coming back too. 

Robins, Red Winged Blackbirds, and geese waaaaay up high are telling me Spring is here and it is not a lie this time. No more freezing, snowy mornings with a biting Northwest wind. Nope. We're done with that for now. I'm pretty confident in that.

Speaking of geese, I saw probably thousands of them up high in the sky on Monday morning here. They were so high I could barely discern the phalanx after phalanx of "V" shaped formations heading Northwest as they flew over here. Maybe younger eyes than mine could have seen them more clearly. I don't know. I could barely make out their cacophonous honking, which was a sweet sound to my ears.

It's dry, hard, and crusty out here. We desperately need rain.

The Black Mountain cycles MCD. Turns out I don't need a fender now. Oh well!

So I finally got out after lunch. Well, it was well after lunch, actually. But I had hit gravel by 3:00pm and was cruising South on a day where Ceylon Blue Sapphire skies met reddish-brown fields. The roads were dusty, hard, and crusty. The gritty sound of my tires and the whisper of a gentle breeze were all I could hear. I was searching for Spring birds, but I wasn't seeing anything. 

Two deer leap across Aker Road in front of me.

It was about as good as it gets out there yesterday.

Two deer suddenly were running across a field on my left which were far enough away from the road that I had time to grab my camera and time a shot when they crossed the road in front of me. Now that wouldn't have happened a couple of months from now because deer will not be seen from a distance due to crop cover. So, the barren landscape was a bonus and I got the shot. 

Cattle silhouetted against the blue sky (Yes- there are two there - and one in the shadows you cannot see)

Blue sky, brownish-red grass. Makes for a cool contrast.

I was going over a lot of ground and the landscape was devoid of most any animal. I saw a few cattle. I saw a family with their kids enjoying the Sunshine outside of their farmhouse. A friendly wave and I was gone....

But no birds to speak of. No signs of Spring. I kept pedaling and searching. Up and down hills and around farms and clumps of trees along small burbling streams. Nope. Nuthin! 

A distant farm is the only thing breaking the horizon line out here.

The last vestiges of massive snow drifts are all that is left to remind you of Winter out here now.

Hmm....maybe I didn't see Robins the other day. But I swear I heard their chaotic warbling in the morning while I was puttering around the house. Anyway, I was turning now back to the truck. About two and a half miles out I crossed a small stream where there was a small farm house and some trees in the yard. That's where I heard it.

The familiar whistling and unmistakable harsh musical trill of the Red Winged Blackbird. There were a bunch of them in those trees I passed by. 

I guess I found what I was looking for.