Spring is inching its way into the area. A friend emailed to say she saw her first chipmunk of the season on March 15th. Bluebirds came back March 25. I'm glad I cleaned out the nest boxes in the fall.

Canada geese are gathering where there's open water, and the trumpeter swans are back beside Highway 71, south of Summerhill Farm.

Trumpeters were "extirpated" from Minnesota sometime in the late 1800s. (I guess extirpated is a scientific way to say killed off or hunted down.) In the 1960s, Hennepin County got a small breeding flock of swans from Red Rock Lakes in Montana, which was the only place in the lower 48 states where the birds survived.

Trumpters eventually began nesting in the state again, and in 1987, the Department of Natural Resources reintroduced swans to Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge up here in Becker County. The birds managed to survive and thrive. In 2004, the breeding population of trumpeters in Minnesota was about 2,000 birds. 

One other note about spring: things have smells again. Even my perfumes are more fragrant. It just takes a little moisture in the air.