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February 12, 1981 - Dare We Think of Spring?February 12, 1981 The *uffo[k Titneg Page 15 Dare We Think of Spring? The first thing I heard Sunday morning when I awoke was the rain on the roof. When I looked outside I could see parts of the lawn and fields were flooded because the rain could not soak into the frozen ground. Early rains such as this can't help but make one think that winter is on its way out. Surely most of us have had enough of it by now. I had occasion to visit the Quogue Wildlife Sanctuary the other day and was again reminded that signs of winter were waning. The sanctuary has a beautiful meeting room on an old ice pond and sitting inside looking out the picture windows we could see ducks and geese congregated. Most were resting; some with that familiar one foot stance, others squatting down on the ice as if on a feather bed. Yet, like in all worlds there were those whose mind was on other things. They were chasing and performing for the girls! Already mating games had started but then you don't have to go to Quogue to see signs like that, for in our own back fields the black ducks are starting to pair off. Every evening they come into the neigh- bor's corn fields and farm puddles. Yet it's that time of year when the sap still lies dormant in the trees and vines, which reminds me that I must get out and trim the grapes and prune the fruit trees. I was just out surveying the garden and checking on the damage the rabbits had done to my orchard. Rabbits Prune Fruit Trees I'd meticulously wrapped the lower trunk of the trees to keep the rabbits from gnawing on them but had not accounted for the drifting snow that gave them a platform to work on. These hungry little fellows chewed off the buds and pruned some of my trees to almost nothing. Although we see rabbits occasionally in our headlights at night, few of us realize how many there are and how much territory they cover in their scampering about. Proof of this is seen when we have a blanket of snow on the ground and we can see their telltale footprints that document their roamings. Perhaps their movements are more noticeable at this time of year as now the animals in our area start acourtin'. Rivalry is fierce in the animal world, fierce in the sense of activity and show -' manship but rarely in the sense of life and death battles. Here the animal world is wiser than we for when the chips are down and you're on the bottom it's time to clear out and give up the game to the winner. There's always another day. A grey squirrel is another fellow who is starting to get into the act of feeling his oats. Tirelessly they'll chase one another until one is literally chased out of the neighborhood. Once dominant the winning squirrel spends his time convincing his mate that there is no better dude on the block. Once this is done mating takes place and in about 45 days the young are born, blind and helpless. Another month of rearing goes by before they start scamper- ing about outside their nest. By then the buds have swollen, providing food for their newly - developed teeth. The clockworks of the natural world have functioned like this since the begin - ing of time. Longer days signal the start f migrating birds. Warmer temperatures, rought about by the sun's moving further the sky, revive the sap in the trees and the flow is on. Upstate that signals the syrup buckets to be hung and the eventual boiling down of maple syrup. In the rivers and bays the ice breaks up and the melting snows give up their torrents of running water. The rivers swell and the world comes alive again. Fish Return As Waters Warm Up Fish start to migrate back into the waters that are slowly warming up. The cycle of life moves on. Out of the mud the eels and flounders emerge. Turtles break forth and pop to the surface to once again look over the world they left behind. The worms, that every school boy knows so well, begin to work their way up through the once frozen ground where they have been held prisoner for so long. The frost comes out of the ground and we walk oozily over the lawns and fields that were held rigid in winter's grip for months. In our homes we find ourselves thumb - ng through colorful pages of seed catalogs nd itching to get back into the garden. q@aq,( @0.l M�IUE,q Our household plants that once looked shiny and healthy now weak and spindly await the outdoors. Many may say that February is 'the meanest month of all and the worst is yet to come. Some will also say remember Mar. 17 a few years ago. But I must have a star to hang my dreams on and so I look forward to the spring. Isn't that the way it is with all of life? We have to have something to look forward to for without it life would surely lose much of its sparkle. One thing is for sure, our days are getting longer and it is these longer days that trigger all the trillions of known and unknown mechanisms in the natural world. So don't be afraid or ashamed to dream of better days ahead. They will surely come and it's our job to recognize and enjoy them. PAULSTOUTENSURGH COTTONTAIL - -Most rabbits hide by day and forage by night. At this time of the year they do more than forage, for courtship is on their mind. Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh