Birds

By My Calculations It Is Now Spring

March 9, 2012 by Corey 10 Comments

If I see either of two things I officially declare that spring has sprung. One of them, my first migratory Eastern Phoebe of the year, has not yet happened this year. (Though I did see an overwintering bird way back on the eighth of January.) Yesterday I did see the other of my two signs of spring, an American Robin pulling a worm out of the ground. I stopped at Van Saun Park in New Jersey’s Bergen County and there was a whole field full of robins and all of them were pulling worms. So, of course, I got out my digiscoping rig which I had thoughtfully brought with me when I realized that the weather forecast was for sunny skies and temperatures reaching seventy degrees Fahrenheit, and spent twenty minutes watching, digiscoping, and just plain enjoying those robins.

What are your signs of spring? Or, for those in the southern hemisphere who are descending into winter, what are your signs of fall falling?

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Written by Corey
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.