12/3/4 Winter's Still Outside the Door

In March I begin to tire of winter whites, and the vast expanse of it directly outside my window as I look at my frozen river. To  say nothing of the snow deer in the yard, hoping to be untethered soon:

These are the days when cabin fever can strike, and the urge to get outside sends me roaming around the countryside hoping to find signs of life. Maybe a bird or two. It doesn't really matter what I see, I just want relief from the frigid crystals that bind us....however beautifully winter arranges itself  along the roadside...

over the fields...

 

and upon the rocks...

The moodiness of March is a force to be reckoned with!  Around the Ottawa Valley all manner of life is coping with winter's last gasp. 

Cows and horses out of the barn for the first time in months

Mourning doves wait patiently...

The Raven tires of endlessly surfing snowdrifts...

 

 Wild turkeys roosting. Do they dream of fresh green sprouts?

 Oh for the day when we can go for a walk without hats, mitts,scarves, boots, coats!

                           

The road is long to spring, but there are signs.

The harbingers of spring are there, like little rewards for being so patient.And as I drive down the icy road, a final magnificent present! Do you see what I see??

Look closely...a tiny oval speck...white to blend with the snow....in the middle  of the shot

 YES!!!!!!!

A gift from winter. Posing quietly while I grabbed the camera, got out of the car, walked across the road to the edge of the field...and sighed hello.

A perfect ending. Just perfect.

Fowl Weather Friends

Driving home tonight, I crossed the bridge into Quebec, and there, grazing on the golf course was a large flock of Wild Turkey. Gorgeous birds that just looked like they belonged exactly in that spot. And they do. Did.
Until they were hunted to the brink of extinction in eastern Ontario throughout the first 75 years of the 20th century
Thanks to the  conservation efforts of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and the National Wild Turkey Federation, who began to reintroduce the birds into Canada about 25 years ago, there are now about 100,000 turkeys estimated in eastern Ontario, and about 13,000 in our area. Those are good numbers and testimony to the fact that these big birds are pretty wiley.

Gotta be a turkey to beat to a turkey who's hunting a turkey!