March 03, 1983 - Early Signs of Spring3, 1983
Early Signs of Spring
i By PAUL STOUTENBURGH
Breakfast in our house is always at a
table by our big picture window and as
I soon as it gets warmer it's outside we go.
There is something about looking out that
helps start our day, Of course, in mid -win-
ter we don't look out because it's dark
when we get up. But now that the days are
:longer our window position is always
taken.
I guess what's really important to us is
that we're once again assuming spring is
not too far away. The snowdrops,with their
small white flowers and thin tinted green
leaves, have been blossoming for the past
three weeks out by the old hickory stump.
The snows and freezing nights don't seem
to dampen their cheerful hope of better
times to come. Every household should
have a clump of these planted somewhere
visible from the house. It's one of the first
things to blossom when everything else is
still wrapped in winter's blanket.
As I eat breakfast another reminder of
warmer and sunnier days sits on the table
beside me. A few weeks ago I cut the
strangling branches off our forsythia bush
down the driveway. They seem to grow
back each year no matter how much
trimming we do. And as a matter of fact, I
think the trimming actually helps the
bush.
They were put in a container of water
and left in one of our vacant rooms where
they could collect themselves for their
traditional burst of color. When we
brought them out into the warmer room
and bright light it seemed in no time we
had their yellow blossoms reminding us of
how it's going to look in the not too distant
future down the driveway.
Forsythia is so easy to force and adds so
much to every home I don't know why it
has not become more traditional than it
has. Perhaps this reminder will spur those
who haven't gotten out to grab a knife or a
clipper and start trimming their own
forsythia. It's a great idea for those who
have friends or relatives who can't get out.
Bring them a handful of these cut branches
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and put them in water. They'll surely
enjoy watching the buds swell and turn to
flowers.
Speaking of spring, one of the traditional
signs of the season is the arrival of the
male red - winged blackbirds, which I am
sure some of you have already seen. The
males come north in small flocks weeks
before the females. Later they'll disperse
after selecting an area they want to call
home. Usually_it's a wet area or one with
tall grass that appeals to each individual
male who'll set up a lookout where he'll
call and display till the right female comes
along. With wings half spread and his red
epaulets standing on end he'll call contin-
ually to attract a mate. When the females
arrive they will be in their dull non-
conspicuous dress which is ideal for the
part they'll be playing at nesting time.
Once paired the couple will defend and
guard their territory against any intruder.
All through nest - building the male will
station himself high in his territory to
stand guard while the female incubates the
three to four speckled eggs in the grass -
woven nest above ground.
Some red - wings, like robins and other
birds, stay all winter and many of us find
them regularly at our feeders. These are
the mixed up ones that don't respond to the
inner urge to migrate south in the fall
when the rest of their kind do. Those that
stay along the coast where the tempera-
tures do not get too cold probably will
survive, but those who make the mistake
of lingering too long in the colder and
snow- covered areas will pay for their
mistakes and perish. This is how the
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SNOWDROPS - -It's signs like this that let you know even with an
occasional cold snap and a bit of snow now and then, spring can't be too
faraway. Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
natural world weeds out the ones who do
not follow the rules. In this way the
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generation.
While we're on the subject of birds, have
you noticed that the bills of the starlings
have started to turn yellow? Here's
another unmistakable sign of spring. This
change of color is characteristic of these
birds as they get ready for their display
and courting come spring.
Egg Production Increasing
Even my chickens tell me spring is
coming. The egg production is up. The
commercial egg grower knows all too well
that longer days spur egg laying and so
has put lights in his buildings to get the
maximum output from his layers. I always
thought that was sort of cheating but leave
it to the farmer to find a way of making his
crop more productive. My hats off to
them! They're an ingenious lot.
A call from a friend of mine told me that
she too was thinking of spring not too far
away. She called about the possibility of
putting up an osprey platform. These
man -made devices have worked well in
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luring ospreys back to this area. They'll
have to be put up pretty soon for these
great birds will be arriving in about three
weeks. March 21 is the traditional target
date.
Even big trees away from man that they
once nested in are hard to come by these
days. Yet with all these problems the tide
has slowly turned and each year we get a
few more birds returning to take up
residency on the East End. We're a long
way from the days when ospreys were
common and nests could be seen in every
creek and along every bay front — but we
are gaining.
When I started writing this article the
temperature was 28 degrees — now it's 36
and rising. The sun pours forth its warmth
each day and as the earth warms up more
and more signs will be moving out from
winter's sleep. It's a slow process but one
that is surely going to bring spring to our
door in the not too far future. It's these
many signs along the way that give us
hope. Hope is what makes us all hang on
and endure the lingering winter months.
It's all down hill from here.
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