By Staff
I can't say that I hate March, for any month that you're still alive and kicking is a good month. It is, however, my least favorite of the whole year. With eternal optimism I always think March ought to be spring but it never works out that way. March is always cold, rainy, snowy, windy and everything looks drab and dirty. We may get a few nice teaser days to keep our hopes going such as the last few days but it soon reverts back to nasty. The balky weather, however, hasn't deterred the wildlife from heralding in spring. In case you haven't been out and about, signs of spring are popping out everywhere.
Many folks look forward to the arrival of robins or blue birds as spring harbingers but the first migrants in are usually red winged blackbirds. A couple weeks ago when it was colder than a well digger's petute, the pond solidly iced over and snow still laying deep a half dozen red wings assaulted our bird feeders. They have been intermittently coming and going ever since. My sister-in-law judges spring's approach by the appearance of skunks. I've recently seen several skunk road pizzas so her criteria is met.
Mr. Piggy and his daughter, the two tame Canadian geese that frequent the creek flowing through our yard have been absent all winter. In their place have been groups of mallards and wild geese. I even saw a pair of wood ducks, the most fair-weather of all ducks, way back in January. Now, however, a pair of wild geese has declared spring by staking their claim to our stretch of creek. If other geese so much as fly over they throw a real hissy-fit, bobbing their heads on outstretched necks and honking vulgar epithets. Little do they know what a poor homesteading choice they have made. The proliferations of coons along the creek turn waterfowl eggs into omelets faster than they can be laid. The real show will occur when Mr. Piggy returns and finds the intruders entrenched on his turf.
You may remember the account last year of the super-duper, fantabulous wood duck castle I put up on the far side of the creek. The wood ducks ignored it last year but I had high hopes for this year. Last week I noticed something reddish brown plugging the entrance hole. The binoculars revealed the face of a screech owl peering out. He apparently thinks The Castle will be just the ticket for winning over some dear lady's heart. He's probably a young one for screech owl's usually mate for life, or at least for a number of years. He sits there all day long in lonely vigil hoping to spot the love of his life. I suspect he will take exception to relinquishing it to a wood duck.
Last week we were blessed with our first relatively warm evenings. The temperature was a balmy 40 degrees or so and, as always, our bijillion watt, Light Up Your World yard light was doing its job. Though it wasn't all that warm and snow still covered the ground I was amazed to see several moths buzzing the alluring lights. Over the last few days I've also been finding moths perched around the house and a chocolate brown one is calling my truck cab home. If you'll recall, last Sunday was over 50 degrees and the sun bore down brightly all day. Despite the snow covered ground a whole platoon of flies were blissfully sunbathing on our garage door. They'll regret pushing March if the frigid weather returns later this week as is forecast.
A few days ago I was thrilled to see a pair of hooded mergansers doing their best to decimate the creek's shiner population. Stoke's Field Guide to Birds says southern Michigan is within their winter range but I've never seen them until spring. They're probably my favorite duck, prettier in their own way, I think, than even wood ducks.
Yes, March will be dreary March but the animals, birds and insects are telling us better times are just around the corner. Carpe diem.