A FEW MORE SUBTLE SIGNS OF SPRING

 A PRETTY DAWN

PAPER BIRCH TERMINAL BRANCHES BECOMING REDISH BROWN

ASPEN: OFTEN HARD TO DISTINGUISH FROM BIRCH

WILLOW BRANCHES BECOMING YELLOW-ORANGE

Tuesday, 8:30 AM.  38 degrees F on the ferry dock, 35 on the back porch.  Wind SSW, light.  The sky was clear but now has some clouds.  The humidity is 79% and the barometer has started to trend upwards, currently at 29.76".  Snow and ice will continue to melt today.
   We looked for signs of spring along Hwy. 2 on our trip to Duluth yesterday and did find some.  For starters, some spring fed streams, such as Pike's Creek and the Brule River are ice free and running, and I expect more will be free of ice in another week.
   And, just as red maple tree buds are providing a distant reddish haze further south, paper birch, Betula papyrifera, terminal branches are becoming a more distinct reddish brown, and quaking aspen, Populus tremuloides, terminal branches and dormant buds are assuming a faint greenish haze (very hard to see and impossible to photograph) but in fact now is a good time to distinguish the two often confusing white barked species.  Easier to see, the young branches of willow trees,  of various species, Salix, are turning yellow to orange.
   As we traversed over the Duluth/Superior harbor on the high Blatnick Bridge we looked for evidence of ship movement or ice breaker activity but saw none.  Lake Superior is still frozen as far as the eye can see towards Canada.