A Look at the Season's Main Events
By Virginia Barlow
March
Snow fleas are out hopping on the snow / Buttonbush, a wetland shrub, often keeps its fruits until the many waterfowl species that eat them return in spring / Saw-whet owls may call: too, too, too, too – repeated endlessly. Their short, mechanical whistles are sometimes mistaken for an alarm signal / Pussy willows will soon begin to open. Bring some indoors for an early taste of spring / Black, withered stalks of last year’s Indian pipes may still be erect
The earliest migrants are water lovers: red-winged blackbirds, gulls, kingfishers, and ducks are pouring north / Ravens are early nesters and may be seen now carrying building materials to the construction site / Heavy snow will send robins to sumac berries / Killdeer will return to dry fields soon after the snow retreats / Ermines are beginning to turn from white to brown / Screech owl females are sitting on four or five round, white eggs. The males bring food
The fungus called scarlet cup is a sign that spring is on the way. Only an inch or two across, its little cups are lined with bright red, spore-bearing sacs / Male northern harriers arrive from the southern U.S. Females will return about 10 days later. Look for them hunting over open wet areas / When the snow melts, don’t blame shrews for those tunnels you see in the lawn. They do live there, but the tunnels were made by moles / Crows are building nests
Peak of black duck migration / Male common snipe have returned and begin their aerial displays before the females arrive, about two weeks later. Listen for their eerie, wavering sounds from wet meadows / Sharp-shinned hawks are arriving, sometimes following flocks of smaller birds and picking off the stragglers. Birds make up about 95 percent of a sharpie’s diet / The drumming of woodpeckers, like the songs of male songbirds, is a territorial advertisement
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These listing are from observations and reports in our home territory at about 1,000 feet in elevation in central Vermont and are approximate. Events may occur earlier or later, depending on you latitude, elevation - and the weather.
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© 2007 by the author; this article may not be copied or reproduced without the author's consent.
