It's hard to believe that a year ago at this time we were already seeing the first butterflies of the season! This year the landscape is still frozen. Not only that, but we've also had two major snowfalls within the last week that brought more snow than I think we got all of last year. On a positive note, today I saw my first gulls of the year: Ring-billed, Herring and Glaucous. I also saw what may have been a Lesser Black-backed Gull, but it was partially blocked by other gulls and a bit too far for me to be sure (it had a darker mantle than the surrounding Ring-billed and Herring Gulls but not dark enough to be a Great Black-backed, and the gull was the size of a Ring-billed).