First Spring!

We've been out of town for awhile and so have not been to The Patch for over a month.  While we were away, spring sprung!

Nearly everything is so bright green and lush.  The oaks (including the one laying on the ground) are just starting to leaf out, but otherwise, the frenzy of growing in our absence has transformed the Patch to a different place. Fringecup is blooming everywhere and there's even some camas in what were the really wet spots of last winter.

We stopped to check out the "owl tree" and the number of pellets has multiplied, but the owl(s) is/are still hiding.  Seventeen bird species today, including a brown creeper splashing in a puddle, a red-breasted sapsucker and an orange crown warbler, our first spring warbler.