It Might as Well Be Spring
I'm as jumpy as a puppet on a string.
I'd say that I had Spring fever,
but I know it isn't Spring."
(Oscar Hammerstein II)
By the calendar it really is Spring, but it sure doesn't feel like it yet. Northern parts of the Boston metro area had snow yesterday; down here it was just cold and drizzly and nasty, as it has been all week. These days when I fill the birdfeeders, even though it's still dark (again!) one cardinal starts his singing while I'm out there. I'm not sure whether he does it to impress me (it does!), or if he's just an early riser. But he sings his heart out each morning, in the dark, all by himself. It's beautiful to hear.
I've noticed that as the cold weather lingers, the birds are eating more and more food. Throughout the winter, I usually only fill the feeders about half-way, as that's about all that gets eaten by dark. But as the days get longer and the temps slowly wend their way above freezing, I end up putting out more food on a daily basis. I'd guess it's a combination of more daylight hours, and the start of migration season, which means more birds stopping by the feeders for a snack. Oh, and talking about stopping by for a snack, the NovaBird camera snapped this gorgeous shot of a female Red-winged Blackbird the other day. Embarrassingly enough, it took us a while to identify her--the markings are so dramatic in the photo, they threw us completely off!
Last Sunday, I raked the protective layer of leaves off the front garden, to uncover the crocuses and allow the Spring growth to get started. The poor garden looks so bare and chilly now, but I can also see green things starting to come up. I'll have to wait another few weeks before I put out the ceramic birdbath. (The birds know that there's water in the backyard garden birdbath, so they can wait until the danger of a freeze is gone for the convenience of having an extra water source.) When we put the front garden in last summer, the birds really enjoyed it--lots of undergrowth for shelter, water from the birdbath, berries for food, etc. Here's what it looked like then--a bit bare and sparse, but we have hopes that it will fill in considerably this coming year.
When it does, it will provide yet more habitat for our birds, and afford us even more enjoyment. How great will that be?
See you by those Springtime feeders,
Mrs. CapeCodAlan