Signs & Poems of Spring

While March 20th marks the official Spring Equinox this year, what are other signs from the more-than-human world that spring has sprung?

Red-winged Blackbirds

Red-winged blackbirds are one of the first and most noticeable migratory birds to return to the finger lakes in the spring. If you have ever found yourself meandering along the trails at Lindsay-Parsons Biodiversity Preserve, you may have also found yourself being scolded (or even swooped at) by our male red-winged blackbird friends who defend their territory during breeding season (early spring to mid-summer). Click here to hear the sounds of our red-winged blackbird friends.

the first warm day of spring and black was in the air

It started with the usual

crows, grackles, starlings,

even the chickadees 

were appropriately capped.

Broken up a bit by 

a red winged blackbird 

and again by cardinal. 

But in the woods, 

early Mourning Cloaks flitted

while a turkey vulture 

circled overhead.

Our black dog plunged

into the ice free pond

but the tawny only dabbled,

then both soaked

the bottom of my jeans.

On a nearby clothesline 

a little black dress flapped,

as winter’s hair was shorn

from newly silky legs.

-D.W. Rodgers

Crocuses

On a walk around the Fall Creek neighborhood in Ithaca last week, I was more than tickled to spy some purple, dotting the brown grass and gray snow- crocuses! Crocuses are perennials whose waxy coating helps them push through the snow on a spring day. Mice, voles, and squirrels may take a nibble and crocuses are often the first food source for bees.

And all the woods are alive with the murmur and sound of Spring,

And the rose-bud breaks into pink on the climbing briar,

And the crocus-bed is a quivering moon of fire

Girdled round with the belt of an amethyst ring.

–Oscar Wilde

Spring Peepers

Northern spring peepers are small woodland frogs that often begin their high-pitched calls in the spring. Males shake off their winter hibernation as the ground warms and make the trip to their breeding grounds. How do spring peepers survive the frozen winters? Sugars concentrate inside their cells, creating a natural “antifreeze.” And peepers find some extra insulation under mud and snow cover.

Spring Peepers

As the sun slowly softens the snowdrifts and the icicles melt from within—

after bleak, wintry months spent in darkness,

in the woods, sundry stirrings begin.

From beneath leafy blankets, they wake—

elfin frogs summoned up by the sun.

Shadows fall, and a horde of spring peepers

serenades us: “Spring has begun!”

—Christy Mihaly

So friends, as you awaken from your own winter hibernation, I invite you to mosey, meander, saunter, or plod along in the cool outdoors and treasure-hunt for your own signs of spring.

As Kai Siedenburg wrote in Poems of Earth and Spirit:

HOw can i walk by?

How can i just walk by

when the delicate green ferns

are unfurling so perfectly?

When the 

brave little mosses

are stepping out

in their finest green fronds,

knowing

this is their time

to shine?

When pale gray branches

That have slept all winter

are giving birth 

to countless

bring green leaves?

How can I just walk by

without stopping to greet

these beloved friends,

to praise their beauty,

to honor their patient

and generous labors. 

I want to bow down 

before their humble glory.

I want to kiss the ground

they grow in.

Take care, stay connected, stay wild,

Snowy