Signs of Spring?

Interestingly, the meteorological first day of Spring is March 1st. I've noticed a lot more birds chirping on our morning and evening walks lately... maybe it really is a sign of Spring!

The picture below is from March 25, 2012... Charlie was enjoying the warm sun in the backyard and the grass was already green. I realize we had an unusually warm Spring last year, but this gives me hope that we're almost there.

Along with the extra birdie chirping lately, yesterday a rabbit ran across the walking path down by the river ~ right in front of us! I was so surprised that I just stood there, unsure of how Charlie would react to this. The rabbit either didn't realize we were there or was so scared there was a dog nearby that it freaked out and ran without having a clear path of escape. Normally the rabbit would have run under the chain-link fence on the other side of the path, but the snow is piled up along the fence and those escape routes are long gone. The poor thing was frantically running into the fence trying desperately to find an opening and then ran back across the path from whence it came. Charlie, meanwhile, was at first startled and ran behind me... unsure of what just happened. Then her chase instincts kicked in and she started tracking the footprints in the snow. She gave up eventually and came back to me when I called her.

I'm surprised there wasn't a trail of bunny poo following that rabbit as he ran away from us... I'm sure he was crapping his pants. I'm glad Charlie didn't automatically pursue the chase; her first reaction was to come to me for further directions. Good girl, Charlie.

Chain-link fence along river trail... no bunny escape!