At least the grass is green

The middle of February. Rain, rain, and, for a bit of variety, showers. The weather pages I've consulted promise more of the same right up until next Saturday. Then there's a day of possible sunshine, followed by - you guessed it - more rain.

"Great weather for ducks," they always used to say, and, "BCers don't tan; they rust." Except we're not ducks, and I don't think we really rust; I think that's mildew.

I'm not complaining, not really. It's what we're used to. And my honeysuckle vine has sprouted leaves already, sprinkling little arrows of green all through the maple tree it climbed last year. The hellebores below are blooming; if it stops raining in the daytime, maybe I can get a photo or two. The chickadees are turning up in fresh, white headdresses to dazzle prospective mates with, and the crows are doing mating dances in the sky above the parking lot. This greyness is not going to last much longer.

Varied thrush, hiding his brilliant colours under a cloudy sky

I laid in a great store of goodies for the birds at the beginning of the winter. There hasn't been much need for it. But every morning I go out and toss around a few handfuls; small seed for the juncos and sparrows, black sunflower seed for the chickadees, larger sunflowers, peanuts and other nuts for the squirrels (although yesterday, a junco collected a big one and flew off with it in her beak.) Within a minute, at most, (sometimes it's only a few seconds) of the time I come back in and shut the door, the varied thrush turns up. Next are the juncos and chickadees. A few minutes later, the squirrels arrive. They must all be waiting around, listening for the sound of my door.

Then I stand there with the camera, trying again for a decent photo. As long as the sky is overcast, it's in vain. Flash scares the birds away and/or bounces off the window; without it, all the colours are dingy and "noisy", most photos blurred.

Why grumble? It's BC in February; what we're used to. Great weather for ducks, but not juncos.

Junco, checking out the snack bar.