Early Signs Of Spring
February 15, 2007 on 11:10 pm | In Nature, Seasons |The temperature was right around zero when I got up this morning. We definitely are experiencing winter lately. But there are signs of spring already.
Winter is known for it’s shorter days. For some mood is effected by a lack of sunlight. What many people don’t realize is that the first day of winter, the Winter Solstice, which occurred December 21st, is the point in time when day and night are of equal length. It’s the turning point when days start getting longer. How can that be when we have all the cold months of winter ahead of us? The reason is the oceans, which play a big role in our weather. It takes them time to catch up temperature wise.
Now in mid February if you look outside later in the day you will notice it stays light longer than in recent weeks.
Another sign of spring can be seen in the animal world.
The Northern Cardinal is a common bird around the midwest that is non-migratory. If you have bird feeders chances are you see them regularly through the winter. One thing to look for is premating behavior. The male and female Cardinal stay mated for life and usually stay within a small territory their whole life. During a good part of winter they stay apart. The male may chase the female from the feeder or other food sources. But in later winter this starts to change. If you watch your feeder you may witness a ritual. The male will pick a seed from the feeder and feed it to the female.
Another welcome change is bird song. The male Cardinal often starts their spring bird song very early. To hear an example of the Cardinals song visit this page.
I’ve heard them singing as early as mid December some years. This winter I first heard him the last week of January. I didn’t hear it again until yesterday when it was near zero! I like to think that the Cardinal is excited at the prospect of spring and can’t wait to sing.
Even though it’s cold outside if I close my eyes and listen to a Cardinal singing it feels like spring.
It may feel like Spring is way off in the future but if you look around you can see the transition has already started. To me that feels like hope!
What have you been seeing and hearing?
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I’ve noticed how the sun is higher in the sky. My backyard is no longer shadowed by the enormous pine in the neighbor’s yard at 10:30 am. I’d get bummed out when the shadow would shade my solarium and cool it off. It feels like clouds rolled in and took my sunshine away. It’s very depressing. Every day since the Solctice I could watch the clock to see how less and less time the shadow looms over.Now the sun is high enough that it goes over the pine and there is no shadow at all. I can now sit in the sun until well past noon! The pine tree’s shadow no longer is dreaded, this is a sure sign for me every year that spring isn’t too far off!
Comment by Cathy — February 21, 2007 #