As the dreary days of winter drag on, I’m ever on alert for early signs of spring. Maybe the imminent arrival of Groundhog Day is stoking my curiosity, but I know for sure that certain bird behavior hints that hope springs vernal!
As I stepped out of the house yesterday morning, I heard a cardinal singing somewhere down our street. Although cardinals are a near daily sight in our yard, it had been a long while since I’d heard one singing.
When I got out to the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm, I spotted sparrows on the ground and in the trees as usual, but I noticed a few savannah sparrows perched on tall grasses and spindly tree branches, as in the top photo. To me, that perching is an early hint of spring.
An even surer sign came toward the end of my walk when, having caught up with my friend Andy on the trail, we spotted a pair of Eastern bluebirds poking in and out of a bird box. While bluebirds stick around most of the year, it’s rare to spot them flitting about a bird box in the dead of winter.
The seeming nesting activity we saw yesterday gives me hope that the songbirds will soon again be singing lustily to ring in spring.
The Jersey Birder 