I've been lax in keeping the website up to date, so my apologies if you have been looking for an up-to-date message recently.
The winter was hard and cold and long, but the snow has finally melted and the woods are beginning to believe that it is spring. Even so, the cool and wet April and May have retarded both spring bird migration and the leafing out of the trees. The ferns are now about half-grown and the oaks have only tiny leaflets. The apple trees are in bloom, as are all the violets which grow as weeds in our "lawn." It has rained daily for the last two weeks, preventing both garden planting :-( and lawn mowing. :-)
The black flies appeared on schedule, though.
We had an excellent and desperately needed vacation to Ontario and New York earlier this month. Two weeks without newspapers, war news, work deadlines! This was almost exclusively a birding vacation, with stops at Long Point, Rondeau, Point Pelee, and Pelee Island. It was nice to head south for vacation! I believe we saw 166 species of birds. We did manage a stop at the Pelee Island Winery (excellent!) and took in a play at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake. On the way back we swung by the Finger Lakes to visit a site written up in American Butterflies. While there we ran into the author of the article, who graciously and enthusiastically gave us a private tour. He led us to a spot where West Virginia Whites were still flying -- a life butterfly for us! Our most sincere thanks.
So now we're back home, catching up on household tasks and trying to keep dry. With luck we can get the garden planted and start butterflying locally.
Peace,
Terry
5/30/03