The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Rain, sun, wind...insects, birds, flowers...meteorites, rocks...seasonal changes...all are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
March 22, 2015
Skagit River flats
Pacific Northwest
Optimally this would have been a sunny day, as the many tourists who came to see the flowers had surely been hoping. Oh well, this is spring in the Pacific Northwest and it's rainy as often as not. We were zipping through the flats on our way home after a weekend on the mainland, so even though the flowers were not as colorful as they might have been, the fields were delightful. And as a bonus: swans and geese!
This is the delta of the Skagit River, a fertile flood plain and prime agricultural land of western Washington. Among the many crops here, tulip and daffodil bulbs are cultivated. In spring the multicolored flowering fields draw visitors from all over.
(All photos by me. In Lightbox...click to enlarge)
We drove through the flats on a back road. It was raining, so all my photos are through the car window, mostly going 40 mph or so. Really no good place to pull over.
Some of the thousands of wintering Snow Geese are still here. Most have headed back north for the breeding season. Behind this group is a field of raspberries. Local Skagit raspberries: yum!
The foothills of the Cascades can just be seen in the distance through the clouds:
Tulips! Some visitors are tiptoeing through them. The nearby town of Mt. Vernon promotes the flower season with an annual Tulip Festival during the month of April. This spring has been unusually early in the Northwest, with many flowers peaking or past peak already.
Daffies! and MUD!
There are even a few straggler Trumpeter Swans in the muddy fields. They and the winter ducks, like these Pintails, will soon be gone for the season.
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The Bucket is open for your nature observations today. What's the weather like where you are? Any flowers blooming?
"Spotlight on Green News & Views" is posted every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time and Wednesday at 3:30 on the Daily Kos front page. It's a great way to catch up on diaries you might have missed. Be sure to recommend and comment in the diary.