Posted on 03/23/2009 11:48:08 AM PDT by JoeProBono
Whether it is toads blocking roads, salamander love songs, or a groundhog overcoming his shadow, many animals have unique ways of welcoming spring.
How Birds, Toads, Groundhogs and Salamanders Start Spring Most people are familiar with the ritual of Groundhog Day; since 1887, every Feb. 2, Americans wait eagerly to learn if Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow, which tells us if we’ll have six more weeks of winter, or if spring will come early. According to legend, Phil was chosen because he is the same groundhog used during the first Groundhog Day, and will live on forever.
Early February is between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox (the official start of spring), so it makes sense that we look to Phil for signs of spring around this time. This winter Phil saw his shadow, and let everyone know that six more weeks of winter was in store.
In Upper Roxborough, Pa., toads mark the beginning of spring by stopping traffic. Last year the Philadelphia neighborhood saw more than 100 American toads killed by passing cars as they tried to cross the road on their journey to find a mate. This spring the city will put up temporary detours so that the toads may cross in peace.
According to the Philadelphia Daily News, volunteers will patrol the roads in anticipation of the first migrating toads, and put up detour signs in hopes that more toads will cross successfully and the declining toad population will be stabilized.
In Green County, Ohio, students get to experience the beginnings of spring firsthand by watching salamanders mate in local vernal pools. The pools, which have no fish, can only exist in the right combination of warm and wet weather; when this happens at the beginning of spring, it is prime time for the once-a-year mating of salamanders. After spring, the pools dry up and the salamanders return to their burrows.
Bird watchers everywhere can tell you when it is spring by the sweet sound of birds chirping. Among the many bird signals that alert us to the arrival of spring are the hooting of owls and pecking of woodpeckers.
Ugh...Grackles!
Those greedy little velociraptors come here in May, like clockwork.
I was previously merely annoyed by the unbelievable gluttony they display at my bird feeders until I saw one actually trying to carry off and kill one of my beloved tiny sparrows.
I ran across the yard screaming at it and it dropped the sparrow who survived the attack.
It stayed under the blackberry thicket until it could fly again.
Last year, we had few Grackles passing through but I’ve seen some east of here already, this year.
We have a LOT of crows nesting in the pine barren above my house, this year.
Maybe they’ll run them off.
We’re knee-deep in male Robins, right now.
The females won’t show up until it’s truly warm [and wormy] enough to nest.
So true. Last summer I had a couple of cardinals that came to feed (I didn’t have a regular feeder, but I put seed out in my empty fountain). But they beat a hasty retreat when the blue jay would come around. Too bad. The cardinals are lovely!
My Cardinals have actually learned to stay put when I slam the back door shut to scare off the Jays who will not let them eat.
The Jays shovel up mouthfuls of sunflower seeds and fly off only to return moments later for the next load.
I have no idea where they’re putting them because there’s no way they could eat them that fast.
If I don’t slam the back door, the Cardinals get nothing so I assume they’ve figured this out and gotten over their “shyness”.
How I would love to replace the grackles with Robins. I had no idea they would eat sparrows, but they are noisy and messy (and not even native!) A pox on them.
I didn’t know either until I *saw* it happening.
Since then, I’ve researched them on the internet.
They will not only eat sparrows but the babies of other birds, as well.
They snatch nestlings every chance they get.
I have a huge Black Mulberry tree in my backyard and thanks to the Grackles, we’ve never gotten to eat a single one.
Mulberries are white until one day, they suddenly turn pale pink and then overnight, they will ripen.
Unfortunately, the infernal Grackles also know this and will come under cover of darkness and totally strip the tree of berries.
I’ve gone outside at 5am with a flash light, preparing to get at least *some* of them for us, only to find that the grackles have already come and gone.
Two years ago, some kind of tiny little birds that sort of look like Orioles [without the bright orange] have learned to beat the Grackles at their own game.
I still don’t get the mulberries but at least I have the cold comfort of knowing the Grackles didn’t get them either....;-D
[the odd thing is that those tiny unidentified birds are never here at any other time]
Whatever they are, they’re right smart.
Very interesting....but WEIRD.
Birds are so cool. We have lots of wading birds, which is a lot of fun since I didn’t grow up with them around. It is still amazing to me to step outside in the morning and see an ibis in the front yard!
Salamander love songs beat the hell out of “muskrat love”. Unnngh.
LOL!
[I’ve been waiting for that song reference ever since the “The Obamas *Want* Each Other” threads]....LOL
Glad i missed that thread! YIKES.
I’d say “Don’t you dare laugh” but you will any way...
We have cranes and herons galore, here, which is kinda weird because we’re in the mountains.
Ordinarily, they hang around my dad’s ponds up on the mountain.
One evening, at dusk, hubby and I were coming up the lane and I happened to glance over at my illuminated backyard fish pond and I -swore- that there was an “alien gray” standing there!
Turned out to be a crane, on one leg, staring intently downwards, waiting for one of my poor, stupid Koi or Comets to rise trusting and oblivious to the surface.
The very next day, I had one of those “artificial alligators” floating in the pond and it never came back.
That’s hysterical! I don’t know where you live, but all we ever saw in East TX was Cattle Egrets. We had a nice koi pond (19 ft, waterfall—hubby did a beautiful job) with 4 large koi. I worried about birds, some people in the area had trouble with them, but I never saw anything that was big enough to get them. Out here, I suspect they would disappear right away, so we don’t have a pond. I miss it!
I have found a couple of my Comets lying in the grass yards away from the pond.
Rather than fish-suicide, I kinda suspect that whatever had grabbed them got spooked by noises from the dogs inside the house and dropped them before flying off.
Coons or cats would have taken them away.
[neither of them seem to like the fake ‘gator, either]...:)
But I just feed them all, His Eminence The Cardinal and the humble Starling, the showy and noisy Jay and the quiet and drab Mourning Dove. The squirrels get a nibble from ears of corn. A cake of suet for the nuthatches. Soon the male finches will be sporting their courting colors and we'll have some white-capped sparrows munching on the dandelion blooms (good to see those go to some use). I get a few hummingbirds around the hanging baskets. We have a mockingbird in the neighborhood and I always like sitting outside seeing how many different calls I can identify. I had my kid out with me one night listening. We heard that little guy pretending to be a robin, a cardinal, a catbird. A very skillful mimicker.
All Nature's Children and God's creatures.
Very handsome specimen. What kind of photogear captures such nice images?
I use a Nikon D60, this one was with a 70-300 mm lens. I would love a bigger lens, but at this time I can’t justify the cost!
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