Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Five Signs of Spring

With a gorgeous day like today, there is no question that spring is really coming. I am going to challenge everyone to find their own Five Signs of spring but here are mine - in no particular order....

1. Male Black-capped Chickadees are singing - listen for their "phe bee" song. Their "chick-a-dee-dee" is their call and both males and females call.

2. Pussy Willows are almost out. I saw fuzz stick out of a bud on the Blackstone River Bike Trail only a few days ago. Red maples are starting to look red now but I haven't seen any open flowers yet.

3. Chipmunks are out of hibernation.  These guys are one of the few true hibernators in New England and the one under my porch is out and trying to eat my bird seed. They make really great tracks in spring snow.

4.Turkey Vultures are flying. Now this isn't that new, they have been flying for a couple of weeks but it is always one of the best signs to me.

5. Ladybugs are everywhere! The ladybugs in our house are awake and all want to get out at the same time. Ladybugs that live in our houses in the winter like to cuddle but are fairly inactive in the winter. They are carnivores so they live all winter on their fat stores from the fall.

3 comments:

  1. We saw some bugs this morning, flying about. Also, worms are EVERYWHERE. The birds were singing all over the place, driving our cats crazy!

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  2. Here's one more - a fellow letterboxer picked up a tick today in Douglas. ARGH!!!

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  3. Caitlin saw an eastern bluebird at our feeder yesterday evening. I can honestly say I've never seen one of those that close up before. We are enjoying watching the birds eat and take nest materials from a suet feeder we put out (leftover yarn, ribbon, etc.)!

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