Fiacré's spade: Love is in the air!

The reproductive season has begun. The first flowers I saw here were scilla back by the creek, where I planted them last year. I never feel confident that plants will survive the winter, so the blue flowers brought a little joy to my heart.

Scilla, our first flowers of spring

Terry alerted me to pussy willows growing on the north side of the property. I must have walked past them a few times without noticing. It isn’t as if they weren’t obvious. I just wasn’t paying attention.

Pussy willows against the sky

Here is a closeup of the anthers (pollen producing structures).

Pussy willow anthers (yellow)

Speaking of not noticing, Terry told me that mourning doves were nesting in the conifers by the tractor shed. He had always assumed that they were ground nesters. It is possible that this is the first time they have nested on our land, although we’ve always had them around. Hilda’s friend, Mary G., though of mourning doves as the juvenile delinquents of the bird world. “They just hang around the feeder,” she said, disapprovingly. “All day long, just hanging around.”

A mourning dove scared the beegeezus out of me when it exploded out of a small spruce tree as I walked past. I peeked in the branches, and there was the nest, no more than a flat pile of sticks. The mourning doves are not only delinquents, but also seem to be underachievers in the nest building department.

Slap-dash mourning dove nest

Compare that with the more elaborate nest of the robin, built of mud and woven grass, in this case, under the deck.

Robin nest under the deck

We had quite a bit of rain last week. Our vernal pools filled, and soon the air was filled with the songs of chorus frogs. Shortly after, I heard the deep hum of toads. I put on my Wellies and went out to investigate. I counted 8 pairs mating in a pool where I had not seen them before. I was again amazed at the diversity of colors. Some were almost black.

Dark toads

Some were brown.

Brown male on darker female, black ad white spots are egg strings

Some were a light tan that made the dark warts stand out. The male is on top in all these photos. The female is considerably larger.

Tan male on brown female, strings of eggs everywhere

This picture shows strings of eggs apparently from a single pair. Look carefully for a squiggly black line from the lower left to the upper right. That’s not even the entire length! Amazing.

Black strings of eggs from upper right to mid-lower left

Sadly, these toads made poor life choices. Two days later, the cold days returned. Worse, the puddle dried up. Oh well. Toads have Type III survivorship. Lots of offspring, no parental care, high early mortality. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: the strategy is to feed everything that eats eggs and tadpoles and have a few left over at some point during the toad’s lifetime. There’s always next year.

The seedlings that I started in the middle of March are ready for the high tunnel. I have been way to busy for a retired person this week, but I hope to get them planted over the weekend.

Tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers ready for the high tunnel

I planted a cover crop in the high tunnel by broadcast sowing oats and field pea seeds. In theory, tossing the seeds in the air is supposed to produce even coverage of plants. What we have learned is that I suck at broadcast sowing.