Spring!

The Vernal Equinox was last Sunday and Easter is tomorrow, and things are blooming and greening at a lively pace now. In town and in the woods, Spring is popping!

The Weeping Cherry in the little gazebo park across the street is blooming

Daffodils and Jonquils line the walk to the gazebo

The Pussy Willows along the Dykeman Walking Trail are popping

The undergrowth in the woods along the Dykeman Walking Trail is greening up nicely

More shrubbery in the Dykeman Spring wetland is turning green

The banks of the creek in the Dykeman Spring wetland are greening as well

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Vernal Equinox 2016

Yesterday was the Vernal Equinox, but I had to work, so I'm doing my annual Welcome Spring post today. This morning I walked through the Dykeman Spring Nature Park to find Daffodils and Mallards. And when I got home I watched the birds visiting my feeder station in the back yard. I recently switched to a new seed mixture which has no cracked corn or millet and voila! No more House Sparrows! But the Finches seem to love the new food, and I'm hoping that the absence of Sparrows will attract other birds as well. 

It's still chilly here but it's supposed to start warming up for good tomorrow. So Spring is moving along; get ready for more flowers!

Daffodils growing by the Dykeman Walking Trail

Mr. & Mrs. Mallard promenading by the north duck pond

A male House Finch at the sunflower seed feeder

A male Goldfinch in mid-molt at the seed feeder

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

This Morning's Walk

This morning I walked down Martin Ave., one of Shippensburg's back streets, to the Brookside Ave. wetland. I had intended to do a survey of Burd Run at both the wetland and at the streambed restoration area on Britton Rd., but I got a late start, and once I got to the wetland and walked around a bit it was time to get home for lunch. I was looking for signs of Spring again. I didn't see any blooms or leaves, but I saw and heard lots of Red-winged Blackbirds in the wetland, and noticed that the Canada Geese were pairing up for the mating season. Heh, heh! The geese were certainly making it known - VERY LOUDLY! - that my presence was not at all welcome. Anyhow, here are some shots from the walk.

An old, ivy-covered barn/garage on Martin St. I've passed this building many times, and I've even taken a least a dozen pictures of it, but this is the first time I got a shot I liked.

A juvenile Turkey Vulture, probably one of last year's hatchlings by the look

A Tree Swallow nesting box in the Brookside Ave. wetland. There were plenty of Tree Swallows darting around in the air, but the boxes are still empty; it's not quite nesting time yet.

A view of the collection pond in the Brookside Ave. wetland

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

First Signs of Spring

The view around here is still dominated by shades of brown and gray, but after a week of warmer than usual temperatures some signs of Spring have begun to appear. On a walk through the Dykeman Spring Nature Park yesterday morning I approached some of those signs with the macro function on my camera turned on; some of these were pretty small!

Tiny Chickweed flowers are much better seen very close up

The Daffodils along the Dykeman Walking Trail are still at least a week away from blooming

This unknown flowering shrub has some very potent flowers; I smelled them from several yards away

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Late Winter Landscapes

We're into March now, but even though March 1 officially marks the beginning of meteorological Spring, the Vernal Equinox is still 3 weeks off and the temperatures are still just barely above the freezing mark. Nothing blooms as yet; the landscape is still predominantly gray and brown and yellow, and this has its own austere beauty. A walk through the Dykeman Spring Nature Park reveals just such beauty.

A view across the Dykeman Spring wetland

Another view of the wetland with Purple Martin house

A view of the north duck pond

Looking east on the upland meadow

A Wyeth-esque scene on the upland meadow

A tangled copse on the upland meadow

A last look west across the upland meadow before leaving the park

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Around Town on a Sunday Morning

Even though I'm off this weekend, I still had to be in to work at 6 AM today for one of our semi-annual all store meetings, a two hour exercise in corporate intrusion into private time. So I decided to use this particular lemon to make some lemonade, and walked back home after the meeting, wandering through town and getting some shots I've been meaning to get but have been too tired or had my hands too full to shoot before. Except for the cats; they were an impromptu walk-on. Heh, heh!

This flower pot has been fascinating me for some time now, and today I could finally get a shot of it

Two feline siblings checking me out on Phillips Ave.

A bit of colorful Victorian gingerbread on Orange St.

The antique architecture of the Shippensburg Historical Society building 

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

A Saturday Morning Walk

On my way to the grocery store this morning, as usual cutting through the Dykeman Spring Nature Park, these scenes caught my eye.

This Mockingbird kept a wary eye on me while munching Staghorn Sumac berries

A view of the upland meadow with the mountains to the north in the background

“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” - John Muir

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Dreary

It's the back end of February, the dreariest time of year in these parts. It's cold, but just above the freezing mark. It's a steady drizzling rain outside right now, but it started out as light snow earlier. There are still patches of old, dirty snow hanging around, but the predominant colors are gray and brown. It's not quite mud season yet - that'll start in three weeks or so - and the ground is still frozen. It's all absolutely lifeless, the tag end of Winter just before things start to wake up. That's why the following photos look the way they do, and why I shot them in black & white. As I said, it's dreary.

The view out my kitchen window

The backyard shed next door

West King St. on a dreary February day

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

It's Still Winter

Yup, it's still Winter in these parts, and there's still snow hanging around from the blizzard in January, even though it's rained several times since then. It's seasonably cold, although that's a little bit above the freezing mark so the snow is melting, however slowly. But it still freezes every night and walking before sunrise can be a slippery process. There's also a crust on top of the snow so that walking in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park, which I did this morning, can be a tiring process. But as you can see, the difficulty is worth it!

As usual, I stop by the bridge over Branch Creek on my way to the park. The creek is running a bit high because of the snow melt and the recent rain

The "bridges" over the creek where it runs between the ball fields

Orange fungus of some sort on a fallen branch along the Dykeman Walking Trail

The Purple Martin house in the Dykeman Spring wetland

The view of the creek from the red bridge

A pair of Mallard drakes on the north duck pond

The northeast corner of the north duck pond

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

A Wintry Walk

I took my weekly walk to the grocery store through the Dykeman Spring Nature Park as usual today. There's still a good bit of snow around, and at least here in the park it still looks pretty, not being trampled on and driven over. Plus we've had several snow squall lines move through in the last week, laying down a new, albeit thin, new coat of white. And it's bone-chilling cold today and forecast to be even colder over the weekend, so nothing's melting.

This was also something of a celebratory walk. I bought a new camera with tax return money, and I needed to put it through its paces. This is essentially an update of my old faithful camera that was drowned in a cloudburst in November of 2013. I was very disappointed in the camera I replaced it with, which turned out to be nothing more than a glorified point-and-shoot. This new camera gets me back to using one of Canon's true "bridge" cameras, a point-and-shoot with DSLR function. So far I'm pleased. See what you think.

Homegrown Himalayas - snow piles in the parking lot at the ball fields

Looking across the wetland in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park

This poor Mallard was a Mink's breakfast this morning

The creek in the Dykeman Spring wetland

A view of the mountains to the north from the upland meadow in the park

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Another Sunday Constitutional

I went walking in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park on the way to the grocery store this morning. Here are some things that caught my eye.

Gum Run is running high and fast due to all that melting snow

Great Blue Heron tracks in the snow in the Dykeman Spring wetland

A pair of Mallards cruising the north duck pond

© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger