Only Because It's Spring!

On my Sabbath morning walk.

Why is the sky so blue and clear?
Why is the robin’s song so dear?
Why is the sun so warm and bright,
Filling the earth with glorious light?
Why are the fields so green today?
Why do the clouds all float away?
Why does my heart with gladness sing?
Only because it’s spring!

I think most people know that I am crazy about birds. I’ve been a bird watcher for as long as I can remember being alive. They fascinate me. After decades of simply observing birds, I started keeping a life list in 1995. So far I’ve tallied 205 species. That seems impressive until you realize that there are 2,059 species in North America, so I’ve only seen about 10% of them. Some people draw a distinction between being a “bird watcher” and a “birder.” According to the serious ornithological enthusiasts, bird watchers look at birds and birders look for birds. Serious birders go to great effort and expense to seek out and tally all the species they can. Some of them compete in what is called a Big Year, where they attempt to identify as many species as possible within a single calendar year and within a specific geographic area. I’m not that crazy or dedicated. I’m somewhere between being a bird watcher and a birder. Most of the time I content myself with viewing the birds that come to my feeders, or my property, or the vicinity, or the county. When someone reports a rare sighting, I’m usually not willing to travel more than an hour to see it and even then only if the weather is nice. If I’m traveling, I make sure to note the birds I see in more far flung places. While we were in Florida earlier this year, I added 29 new species to my tally including the painted bunting, glossy ibis, roseate spoonbill, wood stork, and swallow-tailed kite. While we were in Italy last year, I added a few European species – rooks, Eurasian blackbirds, and European robins.

Florida birds we saw.

Italian birds.

I gauge the seasons of my year by the birds I see at my feeders and in my garden. There are some species that stay here all year long like chickadees, nuthatches, goldfinches, woodpeckers, and cardinals. Some birds only appear during the winter like pine siskins and redpolls. As winter turns to spring, I watch for the heralds of change – first the red-winged blackbirds, then the robins, then the turkey vultures, and as the season warms, the rose-breasted grosbeaks, catbirds, bluebirds, warblers, wrens, thrashers, thrushes, orioles, and finally the ruby-throated hummingbirds. Mixed in with all of those are various finches and sparrows. Last week it was cold and the newly arrived orioles were hungry. Their normal foods are insects, flowers, and fruit. They will visit hummingbird feeders to sip sugar water, but there are oriole feeders that hold nectar, grape jelly, and orange halves, which they love. But none of those things were immediately available last week, so for the first time in my experience, I had orioles feeding at my suet feeders. I’d never seen them eat suet before and realized they must be desperate, so I set out some sliced oranges, which they loved. They are unbelievably beautiful with their vibrant orange, black, and white plumage.

Orioles.

Birds at the feeders.

I love catbirds.

I’ve always felt that God especially loves birds. He could have given them wings of skin like bats, or made them all practical with dowdy plumage to hide and protect them, but instead He gave them feathers in fabulous colors and patterns. And He gave them voices that rank among the most beautiful sounds in all of creation. I’ve always believed that birds, like flowers and butterflies, show God’s love of beauty and elegance.

The blasted Arctic Blast that plagued us for a week finally left, but not before doing serious damage to the growing world. Night after night of frosts and hard freezes and daytime temperatures that never rose above 40 took their toll. The last night was the worst, the temperature dropped to 16°. I think there will be few if any lilacs or lilies this year. Even hardy plants like onions, peas, and rhubarb suffered. But now the weather has tempered. The forecast from now on looks more hopeful. We had a light frost on Thursday morning. I hope it was the last frost of the spring.

Frost-killed lilac buds.

Frost killed lily shoots.

It rained on Thursday night and when I went out on Friday morning, the world was wet and warm. As I took my morning walk, I could see already the healing that comes from rain and warmth. The air smelled good, like damp soil and worms. As I filled the bird feeders, the birds came and sat in the crab apple tree above me, singing as they waited for me to finish and leave. There were chickadees, goldfinches, and grosbeaks. I walked down to the beaver pond just as the sun was coming up. The sky was cloudy, but a bit of light broke through. I watched the pond for a while. There were red-wings and yellow warblers flying about, singing. I saw two beavers and what I think was a mink. The mink was a beautiful animal. I tried to get a photo of it, but it moved too quickly. I hope it stays at the pond and doesn’t cross the road and discover my chicken coop.

From my morning walk: across the front yard.

From my morning walk: the woodland garden.

From my morning walk: the beaver pond.

Mink (not my photo).

Later in the day on Friday, we had a thunderstorm. It poured rain for a few hours. Saturday morning I went out to find the world wet and sparkling and washed clean. Now that the cold has gone, the world has exploded with renewed vigor. The trees are leafing out. The juneberry trees are in bloom at last. In the orchard the plums, which I’d thought had been severely damaged, have begun to bloom. The apples look like they’ve survived the freezes and soon will bloom. The asparagus, our most anticipated spring crop, has begun again to send up its tender spears. Other plants that were damaged are recovering. If the cold stays away, it looks like the garden might be fruitful this year after all.

Plum blossoms in the orchard.

Very fragrant late narcissus.

The many faces of the Johnny-jump-ups in the yard.

We had a lovely spring Sabbath morning. As I took my usual morning stroll, I was impressed by how beautiful the world is. The greening forest on the hills around us with the early morning sun shining on them, the bright yellow dandelions blooming in profusion across the lawns and fields, the singing of the birds – all these things filled me with delight and gratitude that the world on a warm spring morning is such a wonderful place to be alive in. Now we’ve finished with our in-home church service. There are rumors that lunch preparations might begin sometime soon. Today is my wife’s birthday. We will be having coconut cream pie to celebrate (she doesn’t like cake). I’m sure we’ll be hearing from all our children and grandchildren during the day as they call to wish her a happy birthday. We have a bit of rain coming later, but the week ahead looks fine. I’m glad for the warmer days and all the things I want to do to fill them.

Stacey at 10 months old.

Happy birthday!