“Winter is long in this climate
and spring—a matter of a few days
only,—a flower or two picked
from mud or from among wet leaves
or at best against treacherous
bitterness of wind, and sky shining
teasingly, then closing in black
and sudden, with fierce jaws.” ― from William Carlos Williams’ poem “March”

*

Another walk around Kezar Lake in Sutton, NH, on 30 March, with a high temp that day of 57F and a low of 36F.

The lake was still iced over — those little humps are people ice fishing on the lake.

The day was mostly cloudy. This was taken about 3:45 p.m.; sunset at occurred at 7:11 p.m. that evening.

You can barely see where the ice blocks were (from February visits); they look like a series of pointy little shark’s teeth to me here, in the mid-foreground.

The unpaved section of road was still icy (a little) and muddy (a lot).

Two exciting things: Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis), the first I saw this year in NH, in someone’s yard …

… and a great blue heron, either passing through or back for the season — Massachussetts Audubon says that “Migrating great blues arrive in New England as early as the latter part of March, and migrate southward between mid-July and late September. Some birds winter over and are found in coastal areas or where freshwater remains open.” It taunted me at a distance beyond my camera’s reach.

*

Featured image: open water overspilling the canal
This is one in a series of posts revisiting field trips taken from January to June 2019, as described here.