Early Spring

I think that that this was the fourth-warmest winter in St. Louis, and I certainly enjoyed it. Usually January-mid April is the worst part of the year, rainy, gray, and cold. But this year, it was warm and relatively sunny throughout the winter, and when march came it brought full spring with it. Things were just starting to get green when I left for Florida, and when I got back, I was amazed that all the bushes and small trees were leafed out and the trees were starting to bud. By now, everything is green and in bloom, which is one of the things I miss the most in winter. Of course, it's already been over 80 many times in March, which is worrying when you consider how hot St. Louis gets in the summer. But since I'll be in Michigan for the summer, hopefully earlier than ever this year, I'm not too concerned. Anyway, Because of the nice weather I went out to Powder Valley Nature Center last week, which has interesting topography that I think is fairly typical of this east of the Ozarks region of Missouri, with hills and steep gullies in between them. There was a red-tailed hawk sitting a ways down one of the slopes, and it let me get extremely close to it, which was great since I don't have many good raptor pictures. I think that this bluebird is probably at least related to the one I saw here last year hanging around the parking lot. This isn't the best picture, but I like how you can see a sort of blue eye-cover in it. I got an amazing shot of it last year, and I'm thinking about going back there to look for it specifically sometime soon, before there are too many leaves to conceal it. Enjoy the spring season!