Monday, February 25, 2008

Spring Must be Near


Spring must be near. This weekend when I stepped outside, I heard singing. The cardinals, carolina wren and juncos were all twittering away in the early morning. So even though I have 3-4 inches of snow on the ground, and temperatures that are normal for the time of year, the birds think it's spring.

This morning, shortly after 5:30 a.m. I could still see no sign of daylight in the east. But when I stepped outside with Dog, I heard the cardinal singing up in his favorite spot by a beech tree. Now at 5:30 a.m. the only light around is my porchlight, and if that is bright enough to wake up the cardinals and make them sing, then spring must be close indeed.

Already the daylight is lengthening, though I've noticed that the birds are pretty quiet by 4:30 p.m. Some light remains in the sky after 6 p.m. but my feeders are empty of birds at least 90 minutes before that. I certainly appreciate the longer daylight, but I find it a little surprsing that the local birds don't seem to be taking advantage of it yet. Perhaps next week.

1 comment:

ChicagoLady said...

In late spring/early summer, I've heard birds singing as early as 3:30AM. I wish the birds would tell Grandmother Nature it's time for Spring. I know I sure could use warmer weather, even if it's only 10 degrees.