Farewell

The month has ended on a “high” note . . . weather-wise, that is, with temps topping the 75 mark today.  Way too hot, too soon.  This season was the first in my 44 year history at Bon Bon Acres that a spring “pond” did not fill up the lower pasture. Further proof of the severity of a decades long drought.  As our friend Jeff explained, “The process works like a sponge.  Rain and runoff are soaked up into the earth until it becomes saturated.  At that point, water is expelled back, filling up wetlands.”  Those of us who love Minnesota’s lakes and ponds are praying for a cool, abnormally wet and refreshing May.

Even in the best of springs,  April is always  bittersweet around Bon Bon Pond.  With a catch in my throat and a tear in my eye, I must bid adieu to my beloved winter birds.  The Juncos and Redpolls and sweet Pine Siskins have pulled out and I am lonely already. Thank goodness for the Red-winged Blackbirds who always lift my spirits with their friendliness and songs of pure joy. The sociable cowbirds have also returned, as well as the lil’ tailwaggin’ Eastern Phoebes and the female Redwings, who always come well after their mates.  The Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Orioles can’t be far behind. And then,  the pièce de résistance, those flying jewels, the Hummingbirds will arrive.  And so goes the circle of life around Bon Bon Pond.