Whoo-hoo! It is now, on 20 March 2012, spring! Take that, southern hemisphere!
Here in New York it has felt like spring for, well, to be honest, most of the winter. Though lately, with temperatures clearing seventy degrees Fahrenheit and the sun beating down it has felt more like mid-May than the vernal equinox. Whatever, regardless, it is definitely my favorite season now and the birds sure seem to know it.
Song Sparrow singing for spring
Tree Swallows are suddenly everywhere along the coast
Northern Mockingbird singing for spring
Even some shady characters I noticed lately were feeling the spring season upon us.
Brown-headed Cowbird displaying
Spring has most assuredly sprung! Where are the wood-warblers?
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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.
Spring starts 20th March? Is there a reason for that or just it feels like it? We do Dec/Jan/Feb is Summer, Mar/Apr/May is Autumn (Fall), June/July/Aug is Winter & Sept/Oct/Nov is Spring. However, when it’s 32c all year round with varying humidity it’s sort of not real!! 🙂
@Clare: The vernal equinox! And, in birding terms, we in New York State have have the same seasons as you do, just reversed.