Spring had been moving forward slowly with coolish temperatures, but obviously the sun had been spreading its warmth as the wild, and wild, but planted in the gardens, flowers were coming along quite quickly throughout the total area of Fletcher Wildlife Garden. Some of the bloodroot was already finished blooming, the marsh marigold was already in bud.
Rollover the photos for identifications
(non-wild) daffodils
Ferns in fiddlehead stage
dutchman's britches
mayapple
Pasque flower
Pasque flower
comfrey
elderberry
waterleaf(?)
bloodroot
boxelder
ninebark
marsh marigold
The bird feeders were still being stocked so there were a good number of birds, squirrels and chipmunks around.
Although the turkey vultures floating above the gardens weren't looking for seeds.
Nor were the single pair of mallards diving for food in the pond. The pond had been cleared of many cat-tails, but about half the surface was covered with brown sludge/moss.
A few pairs of cardinals were in various parts of the grounds, hiding in the trees and at the feeders (one with a house finch)
The house finches were busy at the feeders
While the song sparrows and juncos prefered the ground
A mourning dove was busy preening and waiting its feeding turn, while a female red-winged blackbird sat in a tree over our heads and just sang and sang
The chipmunks outnumbered the squirrels at least three to one.
One chipmunk did its best to get up to the feeder, but didn't seem to grasp that the post was covered with a metal cylinder. It reminded me of a snake in the first photo
One of the chippies posed on a small rock while a red squirrel just enthusiastically dug into the fallen seeds.
