There are signs of spring everywhere these days. As soon as the temperature is above freezing, overwintering caterpillars start wandering onto the road.  The most common ones these days are caterpillars of the Virginia Ctenucha Moth – a beautiful moth with black wings, a blue body, and orange head and collar that’s common on flowers in the summertime.

The first flowers are blooming – I took this picture on February 28th of willow – probably Sandbar Willow – flowers beginning to bloom.

Basswood buds are getting bigger – they’re easy to recognize because they’re bright red.

The only really green plants are mosses that are softened by the melting snow.

The snow is disappearing.  At first it happened slowly – the temperatures haven’t been unusually warm, and we had deep drifts – but now things are moving faster.

Our warmest hillside is Sumac Prairie – the snow there always melts before anywhere else, and it’s where I find the first flowers.  This was on February 28th.

The wetland below it still had snow.

Buffalo Ridge – on March 7th.  The snow is still a little too deep to walk comfortably

Snow melts first around the bases of plants, making dark circles that gradually spread and join.  It’s easy to see which are the parts of the hills that face most directly south.

Indian Grass Point

There are some places where I can stand and not see any snow at all.

But when I look back over the valley, there’s still plenty left to go – it’s not spring quite yet.