A curious groundhog not sure whether to flee or wait.

Nothing prettier than the apple blossoms that proliferate at this time of year. As a bonus, they attract bees and other insects.

More blossoms for bees and butterflies and other insects, and later, fruit for birds and squirrels.

Eating fresh buds, a spring treat.

Singing his or her little heart out. This species nests at the garden, usually several pairs.

A terrific shot by Barry of this very attractive grey squirrel.

An interesting shot by Barry of a female red-winged blackbird and her reflection, and fluttering chickadee.

A beautiful vivid red male house finch, photographed by Barry. This species nests at the garden, though their nests are hard to see.

A delightfully fluffy cardinal!!

This small snapping turtle was just below the bridge over the pond, and it was slowly trying to make its way toward the pond. As you can see, it is covered in that muddy sludge it had to travel through.

One of many insects enjoying the dandelions. Looks like one of hte Halictids, but can't see enough details in Barry's very nice shot, to say for sure. (CH)

Something to call about here! Barry caught this fellow in full voice, red epaulets exposed. When these blackbirds call, they do so with their whole body.

Beetles make amazingly intricate patterns as they tunnel under the bark of trees. When the tree dies and the bark falls off (of either standing trees, stumps or logs) these galleries are revealed, as here in Barry's photo.

A small ground-nesting bee.

Similar to the Purple Finch, but as you can see in this photo: http://www.pbase.com/fwg/image/162969030 , the colour of the Purple Finch is much more a deep raspberry colour.

This is the woodpecker the baltimore oriole was tussling with over access to the peanut feeder.

Scores of these tiny native lady beetles were found on and near the dandelions that have just started blooming. They provide food for insects when little else is in bloom.

Lots of chipping sparrows around now, their trilling call heard all over the place. This species nests in the garden.

This beauty caught my eye as I entered the Backyard Garden. Its bright orange plumage really stood out against the green vegetation. You can tell this is a species of the tropics with that colouring. Like all neotropical migrants, it comes north to breed, spending a few months here before flying back to Mexico/ Central America.

The small carpenter bee is shown in close up in the previous photo. the sweat bee is probably Halictus rubicundus.

The red trilliums always bloom before the white trilliums and there are both species in the old woods area, so a good chance to compare them. This species is sometimes known as Wake-robin.

There were scores of these tiny native beetles today, all over the dandelions. The one on the left is a slightly different colour.

Photo courtesy of Francine. As Sandy explains: "While working at the garden yesterday afternoon, I had to go back to the centre to fetch water. When I got to the bridge a woman was there photographing a lovely big snapping turtle that was climbing the rocks below the bridge. Stood and watched for a while, then on to get the water. By the time I got back to the bridge, the turtle had succeeded in reaching the pond (the woman was still there, along with a couple of other people who had stopped to watch). It was quite remarkable to see a turtle rock-climbing. I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but then I remembered a conversation on Facebook a couple of years ago where someone had mentioned a snapper that climbed a chain-link fence!"