Or maybe slipping into spring. March has proven more than once in my life to live up to the ‘Bone Breaking Month’ moniker. Its freeze, thaw cycles dress up in their lululemon spandex and dance through my yard, daring me to take a step in my back alley without one pound of guck sticking to my foot. I laugh at those cyles, turn around and walk away on my interlocking brick, freshly laid last fall (one day before the snow came.) Thank you City Gardens Landscaping.

Encounters with nature continue to feed my soul and command me to believe that spring is on the way. Common Ravens have once again decided to build a nest in President Murray Park. On March 1st. I was there with my camera and noticed two Ravens flying back and forth, high up in a spruce tree. As one played tug-o-war with a branch it was a toss up as to who would win. In a last ditch effort to leave the tree with a branch the Raven gave up on the large branch a settled for an easy snap off treat.

Watch the video here.

I wondered if I would be able to find the tree with the nest the next day. The over-flow from the nest building left no doubt which tree I needed to locate.

Merlins have habituated well to urban living. They seem to appreciate the smorgasbord of small birds parading in and out of the back alley bushes. I wondered if the screaming from this female was to attract a mate. Short aerial circuits out and back from the tree seemed to do the trick and soon a second bird joined in the romance.

A trip out to the country yielded some sure signs of spring. Caragana hedges stand strong against the wind as it tries to move Saskatchewan snow off to Manitoba. The wind delicately dances amongst the sturdy Caragana branches carrying rivulets of soft snow into a frenetic swirl, pounding each flake into beautifully sculptured ridges, each one as unique as the individual flakes. My soul does not feel the coolness of the snow but warms to the beauty of this amazing creation. I can see the artist has signed the work of art using dried grasses at the base of the sculpture.

What sign of spring is complete without an American Crow?

Mountain Blue Birds and Horned Larks are among the early spring migrants that add their colour to the rapidly disappearing monotone of winter.

One of the last female Common Goldeneye I have seen on the river.

The Black-billed Magpies have started thinking about nest building as well.