(no subject)

[derien]

I feel like a cad having posted on Facebook about my Uncle having died and gotten a response of a virtual hug from someone I went to high school with. I was just honoring my Uncle's memory, it's not as if I feel personally bereaved. I was not close to him. He was just this guy who happened to be my Dad's brother. I don't think my Dad was ever as close to him as I am with my brothers, they were quite different in temperament, but of course it's going to be affecting him. I don't know.

Spring is about new life, though. We have leaves starting on the trees, popping out all over! Forsythias started I think two weeks ago and are still going - they're not near as ephemeral as the cherry blossoms, which bloomed one weekend and were dropping the next.

We went for a lovely walk with littleredhead and groundctrl, yesterday, only slightly shortened from what they had planned because part of the trail was blocked off because the ospreys are nesting. We didn't see any of them, but we did see a great blue heron. (And as I'm looking this up, I wonder if the herons we saw in Regents Park were grey herons? Because the Blues don't seem to have Europe listed as in their range at all.) And then we went to see the alewives running - they go from the ocean to spawn upstream. (When I was in high school I recall seeing a guy come up from the brook with two plastic bags, one full of alewives and the other of fiddlehead greens, and he was a happy man. :) He told me food is there for the taking if you know where to look.)

Well, bedtime, now. :)

Comments

[lacrimaeveneris.livejournal.com]

I love when the forsitya are blooming, because you actually get a little while to look at them and enjoy them before they fall. Spring in Maine is fantastic.


...yum, fiddleheads.

[kryptyd.livejournal.com]

They were grey herons. I'm pretty sure that's the only heron you get in Britain; but then again we all remember my great (snerk) heron knowledge from that day!

Ospreys are really cool. I'd love to see one.

[derien.livejournal.com]

Spring in Maine is fantastic.


It's kind of intense, I think because all the plants have to get their work done so quickly! :)

...yum, fiddleheads.

Y'know you're from Maine when... ;)

[derien.livejournal.com]

I guess they nest together even though they tend to feed more seperately, but if I'd read only that they 'tended to be solitary' I'd have interpreted that as including nesting habits as well. They're large birds and need a lot of food, so in a more natural setting it might take more space to provide enough prey for one. I think the greys are learing to feed in closer quarters in cities, because they can get fed by humans. (We watched that great blue taking off and it's wingspan was quite impressive, but I read that they only average about a 6cm wider span than the greys.)