Spring has Sprung

It is hard to believe that the zombie days are over! Within one week, the weather successfully redeemed itself. Back home, this would be the equivalent of a jump from February to May. It is still a bit chilly at night, but the sun is strong, the skies are blue, and I'm sleeping with my window wide open. What a rejuvenating change! We celebrated fully on Sunday. First, a morning of sunbathing and then a spontaneous roommate picnic and hike for the afternoon.

We have flung the front doors open!

Sunbathing in shorts and tank tops at 6,000ft after winter hibernation leads to sunburn.

The Rhododendrons are in full bloom

And the chlorophyl is in action.

The path just a few minutes down from our house.

Our picnic spot. Yep, shorts and a tank top.

(Photo cred: Emily)

Back home - the strange thing about spring in India is all the fallen leaves.

Not only are we happy, the birds are also cheerfully celebrating the nice weather. I've seen two exciting birds in the past few days. The first one was noisily chatting with (more like screaming at) a fellow magpie in a tree in our front yard. The sun was behind it, so I only caught a glimpse of its silhouette. I'm not positive that it was the exact variety of magpie shown below, but it definitely had just as long of a tail! The second one woke me up at dawn. It was repeatedly hurtling itself at my bedroom window, either because it was really confused or suicidal. Grumbling to myself about wanting to strangle it, I sat up and was pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful red bird. Its feathers were literally shimmering in the morning sun.

Yellow-billed blue magpie.

(Photo from the web)

Scarlet Minivet.

(Photo from the web)

The birds are a nice segue to my plans for the upcoming spring break (which takes place next week already!). Kate, Elsa, and I are heading east and staying at a Birding Lodge near the city of Nainital.