May across the country

It finally stopped snowing and I was able to start driving east.  In Illinois I stopped at a county park reported to have Henslow's Sparrows.  It took me awhile, I finally found one singing in a tree.  Hurray for Sparrows !!   I found another Henslow's Sparrow the next morning just across the border into Indiana. Boblinks and Grasshopper Sparrows, too.
    I spent a few days in NW Ohio at the boardwalk at Magee Marsh.  It is truly an amazing place, filled with warblers of every color and species.  And the people you meet !!
   I drove across Kentucky, horse country, and West Virginia, really pretty place.  This is one beautiful country we live in.
    My brother, Ken, arranged a family reunion and 80th Birthday celebration for our Mom at his house in Virginia.  ALL of us came, all my siblings, nieces and nephews.  We have not done that for several years.  Hurray for family !!   Big thank you to Ken and Laurie for hosting all of us.
    Leaving Virginia, I spent some time driving across Pennsylvania and New York.  Birding in the mornings and driving in the afternoons, I sampled some very green leafy areas.  Today I arrived in Connecticut.  Its been raining on and off for several days, grey clouds are dripping, dripping.

 Top photo,  backroads of West Virginia.  2nd photo, a Baltimore Oriole enjoying an orange.

 Photo to the right:  Redbud tree in bloom, along the Tippecanoe River in Indiana.

This was amazing !   I was standing on the boardwalk at Magee Marsh watching 2 Yellow Warbler males fighting.  I did not know warblers were so aggressive.  The bird on the left is trying to drown the one on the right.  Fortunately both birds survived.

May snowstorm

It snowed all afternoon and into the evening. The next morning Dolphin was completely covered.  The beautiful little flowers we saw on Wednesday's walk in the woods must be cold and wilting.

into May

Weather for the past 3 weeks has been cold, wet, grey, and windy.  Farmers have delayed planting crops for 3 weeks, and birds have delayed migration.  One or 2 days per week we have seen sun and blue sky.  With all this dreary weather I have had alot of indoor time for job searching.  You would think with all the effort I have put into this, I would at least get a phone call or an email.
     Highlights of my time in Madison were attending a wonderful show by Madison Ballet, visiting the Picasso exhibit at Chicago Art Institute, and watching a performance of the opera Don Giovanni presented by Madison Opera.  Such marvelous voices, oh my, it was beautiful music.  The Picasso exhibit was fascinating. He had so many more phases of his art than I knew about.  We also toured the Impressionist exhibit with paintings by all the famous names.

 

 While raking leaves in my aunt's yard I uncovered the sprouts of Bloodroot.  A week later they were blooming.

    In between the raindrops and bundled up against the cold wind, I did do some birding.  Eastern Towhees returned, Hermit Thrushes came back but are not singing yet, Juncos finally left, Chipping Sparrows arrived, and Field Sparrows were trilling in a field.  In a flooded field near Lake Kegonza south of Madison I found over a dozen Snipe, a pair of Blue-winged Teal, 3 Sandhill Cranes, a few Yellowlegs, and 2 large Sandpipers.  At first I thought maybe White-rumped; later on a local expert told me its too early for them.
 ?? maybe they were Solitary Sandpipers.

Top photo is a White-throated Sparrow.
Right now, its snowing.  May 2 and its snowing. This is crazy weather.