Celebrate Spring

Pink dogwood flowers add a pop of color to a blue spring sky. Pink, white and sometimes yellow, dogwood flowers are often used as symbols of rebirth.

A robin perches in the rosy-pink flowers of a redbud tree. Bees and pollinators love redbuds because they are some of the first trees to bloom in early spring.

Not quite ready to fly, a mallard duckling jumps at flying insects along a grassy shoreline at Bond Lake in Cary. Ducklings need lots of protein to earn their wings.

LEFT A visit with the Easter Bunny doesn’t go so well for Connor Baker of Fuquay-Varina during a children’s Easter event at Parkside Town Commons shopping mall in Cary.

RIGHT Lime green in early spring, young maple leaves glow in early morning sunlight.

BOTTOM Remote Control Laser Class boats set sail on Lake Crabtree in early March when the Triangle Model Yacht Club begins its racing season. The radio-controlled sailboat enthusiasts race every Saturday March through November.

TOP A male Northern Cardinal sings from its tree perch. Although they are here year-round, the cardinal’s early morning wake-up call is a sure sign that spring is here. BOTTOM LEFT A squirrel struggles to keep a grip on a bundle of leaves and pine needles while climbing a tree to build a nest. BOTTOM RIGHT Beautiful spring flowers like that of a black cherry tree offer nectar and pollen to pollinators and honeybees.

TOP A newborn white-tailed deer fawn bonds with its mother while feeding on grass and birdseed at a backyard feeder. Most fawns are born from April through June.

BOTTOM LEFT Like tiny butterflies, dogwood leaves awaken in the spring, stretch their wings, and reach for the blue sky.

BOTTOM RIGHT Fifteen-month-old Hendrix Baker of Clayton finds plenty of Easter eggs during an egg hunt at Parkside Town Commons in Cary.

TOP Youngsters scramble to fill their buckets during an Easter egg hunt at Oakboro Park in Falls River, Raleigh. BOTTOM AMallard ducklings discover their surroundings while foraging for food in a beam of morning sunlight.