By Darial Weisman

Finally…it seemed like it would never come…finally, spring has arrived. Normally, I talk birds and feeders, but right now, I’d like to reflect on the sights and sounds of spring. All too often, my husband and I are as guilty as so many of us are. We are so busy and in such a hurry that we don’t take the time to just see and hear nature that is right out our back door.

Every morning, I get up before sunrise, make my cup of coffee and head to our sunroom. As I sit there, I watch the feeders outside our window. Soon I hear them: a pair of cardinals arrive at the feeder. They are so secretive and like to come in the early morning light. During this time of year, they are in the courtship mode, and I watch the male (from time to time) take a seed and feed his “girl”. Then as it becomes full light, here come the chickadees, the juncos, the nuthatches, the gold finches, the robins and the doves. Now that is quite a menagerie.

Each morning I take out our tiny Poodle, and just walk up the driveway and out to the street…oh for the sounds. We live close to the lake, so it becomes a total mix of sounds. First, the loud sounds of robins as they hop around the yard looking for a juicy worm. They’ve actually been singing since before daybreak. Talk about noisy and happy, happy, happy.

Next, the honking of pairs of Canada geese as they remind other geese just where their territory begins and ends! Their honks echo from one shoreline to the other.

Then I will hear the sounds of cardinals-to the left, to the right…actually all around. It is such a joyful chorus.

In the very distance, the cackle of rooster pheasants echoing from the CRP field across the road reaches my ears.

Then the woodpeckers. They are in the mating mood and their rat-a-tat-tat repeats itself over and over and over. It makes me wonder how they don’t have migraine headaches after all of that drilling!

Not all of the time, but some times I will hear the wings and the whistle of wood ducks as they fly through the many oaks in the neighborhood. Sometimes, they will sit in an oak right off our patio. I’ve never been able to see them nest, hatch out and leave their nest high off the ground, but I keep looking.

Finally, I will often hear a scratching sound in the trees, and as I look up I catch sight of those crazy squirrels chasing each other from limb to limb and even tree to tree. With no leaves to hide them, the little four legged acrobats are quite the sight to see. How they don’t crash and burn I will never know.

Finally, during the day, if I am outside, I will often just stop what I am doing, sit down in a chair on the deck and look up. There is a whole world up there with songbirds flitting from tree to feeder and back to tree…one seed at a time, and flocks of blackbirds rolling through, seagulls soaring high above…it’s definitely another world!

Yes, each morning our wildlife and birds awakens to their own day. Take the time, to see and hear what is going on!