Tag Archives: Spring

Spring Progress

In spite of varied weather, we have been holding our temperatures over the last while and according to the environmental prognosticators, we are supposed to be in the 20s C (70s F) next week. Could be more whiplash weather so we will have to see!

In any case, the local marmots are out in full force and are looking awake and full of beans …

… a very good sign of more stable weather, at least as far as temperatures are concerned.

I spotted some opening buds …

… that really made my day …

and felt an overall sense of spring’s arrival. Lovely.

Happy Friday.

Looking Back … at Bears

Once more, here is a “looking back” post containing pictures from years ago; these photos aren’t necessarily great but are important to me. There are three earlier posts in this series; you can find them here if you’re interested:

https://lynettedartycross.com/2025/01/26/looking-back/

https://lynettedartycross.com/2025/02/03/looking-back-again/

https://lynettedartycross.com/2025/02/10/looking-back-once-more/

In the last post, I left off in 2017 with my arrival in the Northwest Territories. I would work there for the next six years and eight months, concluding with my retirement in October, 2023.

This time, I’m looking back at some of the bear photographs I was able to take during my NWT time; one of them is an all-time favourite.

We spotted this tired-looking spring bear, probably a yearling, while returning from a hike in April, 2018. We were safely in our truck when we saw him.
This bear was very determinedly getting through the deep snow. Did he have a very important date to keep? This may look like a winter picture, but I actually took this one in late May, 2022, while on my way to a conference. In NWT, it can snow at any time between mid-August and mid-June.
This bear was a very big guy and still looking sleepy in early May, 2021.
This young bear from June, 2021, was very curious about us and looked at us just as much as we looked at him; it’s one of my all-time favourite photos. He was probably wondering if we had something more interesting to eat than plain salad!

Happy Monday.

Sparkle

A beautiful trail view of Okanagan Lake as the sun shines on it …

… but that sunny weather has been replaced with this, unfortunately …

… looks almost like winter except that the temperature, thankfully, is about 10C (50F). It’s drizzly and overcast but at least there’s no snow. March is proving to be much more liony than lamby.

Happy Sunday.

Need a Change?

Well, if you were in need of some differences in the weather and you were in our area yesterday, all you had to do was wait a bit! We saw all four seasons in about six hours.

I awoke to some of this …

… followed by buckets and buckets of this …

… and then a little of this …

… and then this.

March is definitely not boring.

Happy Friday.

Goosey, Goosey Gander

I think the Canada geese are getting ready to nest.

The physical differences between females and males is quite subtle, but so are the behaviours. The males are slightly larger and have slightly larger necks, but I wouldn’t put money on being able to pick a male from a female.

Canada geese mate for life and are very much equal partners, taking turns guarding, sitting on the nest and feeding the little ones. In the case of the pair above, one was guarding while the other was eating, but I couldn’t tell which was which. One thing I could tell though was that the guarding goose was giving me the stinkeye!

I’m sure that nesting is starting soon because instead of maintaining their tight flock as they usually do, the couples have somewhat separated themselves from each other. Nevertheless they still tend not to stray too far. There were two other couples nearby and all three were clearly checking in with one another.

The best part is that soon there will be little ones around and it’s always so much fun to watch them grow.

I’ve been ill with flu but am on the mend now and was finally able to get out for a walk; I was rewarded with these geese sightings. Although it’s not official yet, Happy Spring.