Nature Note #138: Spring is Coming (Praise Be)

For the past few days here in Sudbury, we've been experiencing a warming trend that has been welcomed by us snow weary denizens. On Wednesday we even managed to crack 60 degrees Fahrenheit!

However, some people might be skeptical that Mother Nature is luring us back into a false sense of security only to hit us with a surprise Nor'easter or other terrible frozen affliction. Despite those possible outcomes, I'm starting to see signs of creatures and Nature herself releasing the world from its snowy blanket. The most obvious signs have been the melting snow. I've never been more excited to seen ground and dead grass, so much so that I scarcely think that I will be again. Other plants have captured my attention as well.

Recently I've been reading parts of two books about trees for my new job that will be starting in a few days up in Saco, Maine. Both books emphasize the importance of identification within the context of recognizing those species by appearance and habitat preference. The first book is a field guide called Bark: A Field Guide to Trees of the Northeast that (obviously) focuses on identifying trees primarily by their tree bark and then using secondary characteristics such as leaves, branching, and habitat preference to tease out certain species. The other is called Reading the Forested Landscape and focuses on how certain features of trees within a forest can inform you about the land itself and the previous effects of humans on the land as well. Now when I go out and see a patch of trees, I feel better prepared to identify them and to try and guess what they had experienced in their lives.

The trees that live along the Sudbury River must not be looking forward to the spring floods that come every year, but the migrating ducks definitely relish the open water. On a birding trip this week, I spied the unusual mating display of a male Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes culcullatus). Like a gyrating snake, the male would wobble his black and white fanned crest back and forth issuing a popping noise before delivering a two-toned frog-like croak. He did this several times, but no females were nearby to catch his performance. Maybe he was practicing?

Or laughing maniacally perhaps?

Elsewhere, behind the Wayland Whole Foods, there is a marsh that remains flooded by the Sudbury River through most of the year. The usual Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) and Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) make their home near the golf course and nibble on the pond weeds and grass whenever possible, but the most recent migrants had returned too. A couple Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) pairs were foraging around the ice! The male's rainbow palette contrasting with the bland ice and snow was really something to see and a nearby female offered evidence proving that were just as at home in the trees as they were on the water.

Another prominent sign that I took note of this morning was the appearance (or reappearance in their opinion) of Diurnal Fireflies (Ellychnia corrusca) on the bark of an oak (Quercus spp.) in our yard. No bigger than a sunflower seed and barely moving amongst the ridges and furrows of tree bark, these little insects overwinter on the tree, before emerging again in the spring time! For years, I thought they were called June bugs before I learned that those were a different kind of beetle.

They especially like trees with free-flowing sap, so check maples too

I guess the biggest sign of all for most people, myself included has been the sense of hope that finally, after nearly two months of this cold, awful, no good, snowy weather, that maybe, just maybe, spring has come for us at last. And even if the 21st comes and goes, at least we can take a little comfort in knowing that spring is finally here, even if the weather disagrees.