On the first few days of the 2-week migration birdathon that my friend and I embarked on at the very end of April, it was so cold that I wore a winter coat, hat and fingerless gloves. ID-ing birds is a lot easier when you can hear them singing, so on the auto tour at Horicon Marsh we blasted the car heat and rolled along with the windows down.
The temperature was about 20 degrees below normal (in the 40s) and windy, and I said to my friend, “Can you believe this is May?” The trees hadn’t leafed out and the tulips were just opening—at least 3 weeks later than usual.
Fast forward 12 days and our last days of birding required cranking the car’s air conditioner and drinking lot of water. We had several days of record-breaking temperatures including a whopping 95 degrees (F) with a very sticky 71-degree dewpoint. That’s hot around here even for July! Again I said to my friend, “Can you believe this is May?”
The tulips, that finally opened for the first time this spring, spent one day in the extreme heat and said, “NOPE!” and starting melting away.
And we discovered this poor robin standing over its nest (not sitting, mind you) panting in the heat. I’m surprised those eggs weren’t hard boiled.
And even the backyard critters found it hard to motivate. This squirrel ate seeds while cooling his belly on the ground.
Thankfully after some weekend storms we are back to “normal” spring temperatures which is good because now I abruptly switch from Bird Season to Gardening Season. It’s time to harden off my indoor-grown seedlings and get them in the ground!