This morning around 10:30 I spotted the first tree swallow of the season,
swooping over the hilltop and around one of the nest boxes, newly cleaned
out and re-furbished as needed for this arrival. This made me smile.

Tree swallows have been around the state for a couple weeks now, but all
the sighting's reports I have read relate lowland locations or over water,
at least I think so. To me, this makes sense, since the bugs come out first
there. The warmish early spring has brought the appearance of plenty of
flying insects on the Flint Ridge uplands. The swallows will have no
problem with that.

We also noticed another sign of the early-advancing spring. The Virginia
bluebells are budding out a couple weeks earlier than normal.

I also had my first tick yesterday, but I will just deal with it.

Bob Evans
Geologist, etc.
Hopewell Township, Muskingum County

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