A Look at the Season's Main Events
By Virginia Barlow
March
Sumac berries last through the winter and may be eaten by pine grosbeaks – among many other bird species / Barred owls are laying eggs in cavities in old deciduous trees / Warm days bring snow fleas. They look like flecks of pepper on the surface of the snow, except that they appear and disappear / Cedar waxwings may come to town to feast on crabapples / After snowmelt is a good time to eat wild cranberries from bogs. Try mixing them with a bit of sugar
Buff-colored gypsy moth masses that spent the winter below the snow line are more likely to hatch than those that were exposed to the full force of the cold. Scraping off low ones might be worthwhile / Hooded mergansers arrive as soon as there is open water / Chickadees prefer birdhouses that are in or near woods / Red-osier dogwood in sunny locations is at its reddest / Skunks roll out of their dens and go on the prowl. Six to eight young will be born in two months
Near wetlands, the morning air is filled with red-winged blackbird songs / Red squirrels bite into maple branches, leave the sap to evaporate, and return later to lap up maple syrup / The first big flocks of neotropical migrants are crossing the Gulf of Mexico or island-hopping through the Caribbean / Red foxes give birth. They will be weaned in about nine weeks but stay with their mother though the summer / Crows are building their nests high in white pines
Some gray birch cones, each holding about 350 seeds, are still intact. Spring winds will soon break them apart and disperse the seeds / Ravens are rehabilitating their old nests. Soon the female will be incubating four or five speckled, blue-green eggs while the male perches nearby and feeds her / Mourning cloak butterflies overwinter as adults. Look for them flying on warm, sunny days / Gray squirrels are born; usually the nest is high in a hardwood tree
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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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© 2005 by the author; this article may not be copied or reproduced without the author's consent.
