Wednesday, April 6, 2005

SIGNS OF SPRING


I am a "signs of spring" counter, and today was a momentous day:  FOUR new signs of spring!

1.  I heard an Eastern Phoebe calling outside the window.

2.  I heard a male turkey gobbler--very close to the house, too.

3.  I saw coltsfoot along the road--usually one of the very first wildflowers of spring.

4. And...SPRING PEEPERS, what a lovely sound!  As we were driving home from Butler at 9 PM, we had the car windows cracked open a bit; it seemed to me we heard them all the way home.  Sometimes strong, sometimes far away, but chirping, chirping their glorious joy of spring.  They lift my heart, reminding me that the seasons are constant, God is in control, and spring always comes again.

On top of all these wonderful happenings, I was able to add another bird to my life list!  It was most unusual, as it was right here in my own backyard, in my own birdfeeder area.  AND this bird is noted in the ID book as being "uncommon."  A yellow-bellied sapsucker, a very beautiful quiet bird.

Today was a Bird Count day, so I was looking out the window every whipstitch, when I noticed what looked like a hairy woodpecker.  But he was PERCHED on a branch rather than belly-facing a tree trunk.  That arrested my attention.  Is our good ol' hairy woodpecker going balmy and trying new things?  But then I noticed the bright red under his chin:  RUN FOR THE BINOCS!   RUN FOR THE BIRD BOOK! 

He then went to the trunk of the tree and systematically began his quiet rows of pecking for bugs and sap.  We saw him off and on for the rest of the day.

God gives us simple pleasures here.

1 comment:

  1. I have seen green in my woods and coltsfoot on our road and am so happy!!
    SPRING.
    O_o
    How i missed spring... you yankees have the weirdest weather!!
    *glare*

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