Sonoma County: The Whispered Promise of Spring... (a photo-essay)

We have been fortunate here in Sonoma County in Northern California to have had beautiful days these last few weeks with daytime temperatures in the high 60s and low 70s and overnight lows only in the mid-30s.

This lack of nighttime freezing temperatures has hastened the onslaught of spring which will be nice if (and I do mean "IF") it holds out. I've been cautiously optimistic about this happy state of affairs because, if all the fruit-bearing trees set flower buds and then the overnight temperatures dip down below freezing, we'll be in real trouble but, for now, our little corner of Mother Earth is yawning and stretching and seems to be rising up out of her winter sleep...

There are certain unmistakeable signs of spring these days hereabouts that I thought those of you who dwell in somewhat less temperate climes might enjoy sharing with us here in Sonoma County via the miracle of digital photography.

I've seen exactly TWO butterflies so far this season and both appeared to be newly hatched from their cocoons...

I came to this conclusion due to the bright and vitalic colors they sported and the fact that -- when I saw them -- they somewhat "lumbered" in flight only briefly before alighting upon some branch where they appeared to be catching their breaths before traveling on. 

My photographs of the first one (which appeared to me to be a "Greater Fritillary", Speyeria cybele) didn't come out at all but, today, as sheer luck would have it, I found another!

This time, the candidate was most definitely a "Red Admiral" (Vanessa atalanta):

Nothing says "spring" like the first butterfly, eh?  :o)

The second sure sign of an approaching spring comes in the form of one of our native, Sonoma County wildflowers. Here in the "ole singlewide" in the hills above the little town of Cloverdale, what we lack in luxurious accomodations, we make up for in vistas and we are fortunate to live only across the driveway from a hillside that is covered each spring in a carpet of one of the native "primulus" (or "primrose") family: Dodecathion hendersonii -- a gorgeous flower resembling very much some type of cyclamen -- commonly called "Mosquito Bills".

Here, at "jeanz place", mosquito bills are the first wildflower to bloom in spring and WHAT a STUNNING "opening act" they are! There are only a few in bloom on the little hillside right now but, the buds are EVERYWHERE and it won't be long until the rise is covered with these marvelous, magenta-colored flowers:

 The "changing guard" of birds here also marks the passage of the seasons...

The little "golden-crowned sparrows" who have been here since late fall are getting scarcer and scarcer:

The recent influx of robins has also thinnned out:

And the local bevy of quail has been making themselves far more visible:

Now come the spring visitors like this yellow-rumped warbler:

It won't be long before the Bullock's orioles will be here to mate and raise their young, along with the the swifts (the SURE sign that summer is right around the corner)!

Tie a knot and hang on, kids, spring's almost here!

'Til next time -- from the ole singlewide here in the hills above Cloverdale, Sonoma County, Northern California...

luv,

jean