Warm and Cool

Yesterday when just about everywhere in BC had a nice balmy April day the Bella Coola Valley had a high of 22 C, while today we had a high of 10 or 11 C and a cool wind with spitting rain which is more typical April weather.  Warm enough one day to get some people planting potatoes, to cool enough the next day that we had to light a fire to take the chill off.

We won't be planting any of the early crops in our garden for 10 days or so because the annual wave of Golden Crowned Sparrows arrived on the weekend and from past experience it is impossible to have any young plants like radishes, lettuce or spinach coming up when they are around.  They simply pull every last plant and eat it.  They hang around for 10 days or so and then continue north, hopefully a long way north where gardens are non-existent!

Regarding the phenology of Golden Crown Sparrows, here is some data I've collected of the date when they arrive in our garden

• April 19, 1998
• April 19, 1999
• April 20, 2001
• April 11, 2002
• April 18, 2004
• April 26, 2006
• April 18, 2008
• April 17, 2010

Grizzly