It isn't unusual for a dove nest with babies to be blown out of a tree during a wind storm. Most doves cross a few sticks loosely held together and call it finished.
Place the baby doves in a box with a heating pad under the box cushioned with a folded towel. Set the heating pad on low. If a heating pad isn't available, secure the baby doves in a container and place it where it will be shielded from the elements.
Materials:
***12-inch square of 1/4 or 1/2-inch wire screen.
Cut a 12 inch circle.
Then cut a 2 1/2-inch pie-shaped wedge from the circle, and discard it. Pull the circle into the shape of a cone. Over lap the edges and wire them together.
Secure the nest basket close to the crotch of a tree limb from eight to 16 feet above the ground.
Replace the baby doves and watch from a safe distance. The parents should return quickly to feed and shelter them.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
May Brings Abundance in Nature
Whatever Mother Nature does, she does it with all her heart. She
dishes out recovery with blooms and new leaves, songbirds, butterflies,
and bees.
The mountaintop reeled under the devastation of the Easter weekend freeze. The Quantum Cherry tree is still struggling to put on new leaves as if the star magnolia. There aren't enough leaves to provide a canopy for the tender pot plants from the greenhouse. I fear the Clendendron trees, one of all time favorites, are dead. There is no sign of life after six weeks since the freeze. They were not only my favorites, but butterflies covered them from the time they bloomed until fall. The oldest stood 30 feet tall, and provided shade for the Pilgrim geese during the heat of summer. Their demise is much like losing an old friend on the mountaintop.
A few of the Iris are showing buds, and the late blooming peonies are opening. What a luxury to have flowers in bloom again. Spring without blooms is hard to imagine, after waiting months through winter for them to arrive. Some of the lilies are nodding in the warm spring breezes with heads full of buds. Others did not show buds this year.
The laurel is in bloom, and it is a welcome escort down the mountain each morning. Bees are back out and humming, and at evening the whippoorwills call. Although it is past mid-May, it seems that is was March only yesterday. Every year we worry about if spring is early or late, and we fear for plants, blooms and buds. But the plants don ' t
forget, because their memory is not like ours. Plants have a fundamental memory, a response to the rhythms of time. It is part of the order that keeps days and nights, season and years in their immutable sequence.
The scarlet tanager has found the mountaintop again. Some call it a black-winged redbird or firebird. Nobody ever forgets the scarlet tanager, once one visits. Beside the tanager, the cardinal' s deep red seems a bit dull. Only the males are clothed in the vivid red, and then only in the spring and summer. The females have yellowish
olive-green feathers. Her wings are a brownish-gray. When winter approaches the male tanager will look much like the female.
May' s air holds the golden dust that sends many humans hurrying for the tissue box. The air itself is dusted with the substance of life, the pollen crop of the trees. The hickories, oaks, walnuts, and all the conifers spread clouds of sulphur-yellow pollen. It is one of the
oldest fertility rites on earth. Some of the pollen reaches the female flowers and produce the seeds that keep the planet green. It will be over soon, and red noses and eyes will be able to return to normal.
The day begins early now. At first light, the birds begin to celebrate the dawn. The dawn chorus swells into a full cathedral choir by 7 a.m. No one complains that May is a noisy month.
Wisps of silver mist still hug the hollows with memories of midnight coolness at daybreak. The busyness of the day hasn' t intruded yet.
You can hear the breeze whispering through the treetops. The sunrise is the day's beginnings. Perhaps that is what the birds are celebrating. Those who know another dimension of time can, for a little while, participate in genesis itself.
June bugs are already on the back walk. They are blundering beetles
that appear at dusk and linger well into the dark.
Fawns are beginning to appear in the woods. Leave them where you find them. A fawn lacks scent and with their dappled coloring, they are well camouflaged, and usually remain safe from predators. The doe returns to the fawn several times a day to nurse it and clean it. Staying only a few minutes each time, she leaves again to seek food. Most
fawns do not do well in captivity. Leave nature where you find it.
Bees are in serious trouble in the Valley. They are suffering "bee hive collapse." The bees leave the hive in search of nectar and pollen, and never return. This is drastic, because man depends on bees to pollinate crops to produce food. Man cannot replicate what the bees do. There is no substitute for trillions and trillions of honeybees
worldwide, pollinating hundreds of thousands of square miles. If
honeybees become extinct, man may not be far behind. Mites and pollution, including pesticides, had already compromised bees and now a new plague has struck.
"We don't know what is causing the hives to collapse," Edd Buchanan, master beekeeper says," We are meeting and we are studying, but we simply don't know yet."
Researchers have decided to call the latest bee plague "colony collapse disorder." A Cornell University study estimated that honeybees annually pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in the United States, which includes fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
"Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee
to pollinate that food," Zac Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation, said.
Some beekeepers on the east coast report losses of more than 70 percent of their hives. Beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20 percent in the off-season normal. Colony Collapse Disorder is not just a United States problem. It is occurring in Spain and Poland as well.
With global warming threatening many species, and now bees seriously endangered, it may be later than we think.
May you always hear the whisper of wings.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
dishes out recovery with blooms and new leaves, songbirds, butterflies,
and bees.
The mountaintop reeled under the devastation of the Easter weekend freeze. The Quantum Cherry tree is still struggling to put on new leaves as if the star magnolia. There aren't enough leaves to provide a canopy for the tender pot plants from the greenhouse. I fear the Clendendron trees, one of all time favorites, are dead. There is no sign of life after six weeks since the freeze. They were not only my favorites, but butterflies covered them from the time they bloomed until fall. The oldest stood 30 feet tall, and provided shade for the Pilgrim geese during the heat of summer. Their demise is much like losing an old friend on the mountaintop.
A few of the Iris are showing buds, and the late blooming peonies are opening. What a luxury to have flowers in bloom again. Spring without blooms is hard to imagine, after waiting months through winter for them to arrive. Some of the lilies are nodding in the warm spring breezes with heads full of buds. Others did not show buds this year.
The laurel is in bloom, and it is a welcome escort down the mountain each morning. Bees are back out and humming, and at evening the whippoorwills call. Although it is past mid-May, it seems that is was March only yesterday. Every year we worry about if spring is early or late, and we fear for plants, blooms and buds. But the plants don ' t
forget, because their memory is not like ours. Plants have a fundamental memory, a response to the rhythms of time. It is part of the order that keeps days and nights, season and years in their immutable sequence.
The scarlet tanager has found the mountaintop again. Some call it a black-winged redbird or firebird. Nobody ever forgets the scarlet tanager, once one visits. Beside the tanager, the cardinal' s deep red seems a bit dull. Only the males are clothed in the vivid red, and then only in the spring and summer. The females have yellowish
olive-green feathers. Her wings are a brownish-gray. When winter approaches the male tanager will look much like the female.
May' s air holds the golden dust that sends many humans hurrying for the tissue box. The air itself is dusted with the substance of life, the pollen crop of the trees. The hickories, oaks, walnuts, and all the conifers spread clouds of sulphur-yellow pollen. It is one of the
oldest fertility rites on earth. Some of the pollen reaches the female flowers and produce the seeds that keep the planet green. It will be over soon, and red noses and eyes will be able to return to normal.
The day begins early now. At first light, the birds begin to celebrate the dawn. The dawn chorus swells into a full cathedral choir by 7 a.m. No one complains that May is a noisy month.
Wisps of silver mist still hug the hollows with memories of midnight coolness at daybreak. The busyness of the day hasn' t intruded yet.
You can hear the breeze whispering through the treetops. The sunrise is the day's beginnings. Perhaps that is what the birds are celebrating. Those who know another dimension of time can, for a little while, participate in genesis itself.
June bugs are already on the back walk. They are blundering beetles
that appear at dusk and linger well into the dark.
Fawns are beginning to appear in the woods. Leave them where you find them. A fawn lacks scent and with their dappled coloring, they are well camouflaged, and usually remain safe from predators. The doe returns to the fawn several times a day to nurse it and clean it. Staying only a few minutes each time, she leaves again to seek food. Most
fawns do not do well in captivity. Leave nature where you find it.
Bees are in serious trouble in the Valley. They are suffering "bee hive collapse." The bees leave the hive in search of nectar and pollen, and never return. This is drastic, because man depends on bees to pollinate crops to produce food. Man cannot replicate what the bees do. There is no substitute for trillions and trillions of honeybees
worldwide, pollinating hundreds of thousands of square miles. If
honeybees become extinct, man may not be far behind. Mites and pollution, including pesticides, had already compromised bees and now a new plague has struck.
"We don't know what is causing the hives to collapse," Edd Buchanan, master beekeeper says," We are meeting and we are studying, but we simply don't know yet."
Researchers have decided to call the latest bee plague "colony collapse disorder." A Cornell University study estimated that honeybees annually pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in the United States, which includes fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
"Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee
to pollinate that food," Zac Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation, said.
Some beekeepers on the east coast report losses of more than 70 percent of their hives. Beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20 percent in the off-season normal. Colony Collapse Disorder is not just a United States problem. It is occurring in Spain and Poland as well.
With global warming threatening many species, and now bees seriously endangered, it may be later than we think.
May you always hear the whisper of wings.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
Some birds enjoy air bathing
Game birds and sparrows enjoy a good wallow in dust to clean their feathers, while other birds enjoy a dip in a puddle or bird bath.
Sometimes you may catch a glimpse of a bird air bathing. The bird is stimulated to go through the motions of bathing while watching other birds in water.
The air-bathing bird goes through all the motions of taking a bath with no water. After taking the imaginary bath, the bird preens its feathers just as it would after a real bath.
Some behavior truly falls in the category of mind over matter.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
Sometimes you may catch a glimpse of a bird air bathing. The bird is stimulated to go through the motions of bathing while watching other birds in water.
The air-bathing bird goes through all the motions of taking a bath with no water. After taking the imaginary bath, the bird preens its feathers just as it would after a real bath.
Some behavior truly falls in the category of mind over matter.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
Bluebirds are an early summer favorite
Eastern and western bluebirds are among the most favorite of spring songbirds.
Populations have made great strides in stabilizing since the species almost became extinct. The eastern bluebird can be found in hardwoods and grasslands mainly in rural settings. Grassy areas like meadows, pastures, roadsides, yards, rights-of-way, and farmlands attract the gentle bird. The more open grassy areas provide foraging habitat. Nearby trees are used for perching and nesting sites. The largest threat to the bluebirds' future is the continued loss of nesting area.
Landowners are important in the struggle in keeping bluebird populations stable. Keep the snags or dying trees rather than destroying them. They provide cavities for nesting.
Approximately two-thirds of the diet of an adult eastern bluebird is made up of insects and other invertebrates. The remainder of the diet comes from seasonal fruits. Favorite insect foods include crickets, katydids, beetles and grasshoppers. The birds also enjoy spiders, earthworms, millipedes, centipedes, sow bugs and small snails. When insects are scarce, fruits become very important.
During the winter months, eastern bluebirds consume dogwood berries, hawthorn berries,wild grapes, hackberry seeds and sumac. Supplemental fruits include blackberries, honeysuckle and bayberries. Virginia creeper, red cedar and pokeberries are enjoyed. The availability of winter foods often determines whether bluebirds migrate or stay. If they decide to stay in a region, they gather in flocks and seek cover in orchards, and heavy thickets. A brush pile is a delight for bluebirds.
Bluebirds feed by sitting prey from high perches. They swoop down to catch insects on the ground.
The eastern bluebird's winter and summer ranges differ primarily in how far south the bird reaches. Eastern bluebirds nest from southern Saskatchewan, east across southern Canada to Nova Scotia, south to southern Florida, and south from eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains from Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and the Dakotas south to Texas. Bluebirds winter in the middle parts of eastern North America south into Mexico, the Gulf coast, and southern Florida. Populations have also been found in southeast
Arizona and south into Nicaragua.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
Populations have made great strides in stabilizing since the species almost became extinct. The eastern bluebird can be found in hardwoods and grasslands mainly in rural settings. Grassy areas like meadows, pastures, roadsides, yards, rights-of-way, and farmlands attract the gentle bird. The more open grassy areas provide foraging habitat. Nearby trees are used for perching and nesting sites. The largest threat to the bluebirds' future is the continued loss of nesting area.
Landowners are important in the struggle in keeping bluebird populations stable. Keep the snags or dying trees rather than destroying them. They provide cavities for nesting.
Approximately two-thirds of the diet of an adult eastern bluebird is made up of insects and other invertebrates. The remainder of the diet comes from seasonal fruits. Favorite insect foods include crickets, katydids, beetles and grasshoppers. The birds also enjoy spiders, earthworms, millipedes, centipedes, sow bugs and small snails. When insects are scarce, fruits become very important.
During the winter months, eastern bluebirds consume dogwood berries, hawthorn berries,wild grapes, hackberry seeds and sumac. Supplemental fruits include blackberries, honeysuckle and bayberries. Virginia creeper, red cedar and pokeberries are enjoyed. The availability of winter foods often determines whether bluebirds migrate or stay. If they decide to stay in a region, they gather in flocks and seek cover in orchards, and heavy thickets. A brush pile is a delight for bluebirds.
Bluebirds feed by sitting prey from high perches. They swoop down to catch insects on the ground.
The eastern bluebird's winter and summer ranges differ primarily in how far south the bird reaches. Eastern bluebirds nest from southern Saskatchewan, east across southern Canada to Nova Scotia, south to southern Florida, and south from eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains from Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and the Dakotas south to Texas. Bluebirds winter in the middle parts of eastern North America south into Mexico, the Gulf coast, and southern Florida. Populations have also been found in southeast
Arizona and south into Nicaragua.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
Did You Know? (Crow facts)
*** Crows show strong group loyalty. Despite man's hunger to always expand taking more and more habitat. This bird has not only survived but thrived.
*** Crows incubate their eggs for 18 days. Within five weeks the baby crows are able to fly.
*** A crow can eat almost anything. Diet includes grains, insects, eggs, fruit, even carrion. Rarely do crows face a food shortage because they are so adaptable.
*** A crow gives up flock loyalty during nesting season. Attention is transferred to the female. Researchers believe that they mate for life and are model wildlife parents. A mate knows where the other is at all times. Even in flight, a slower mate is waited for so that the two can fly as a team.
*** During nesting the male provides the female with food. When the eggs hatch, the pair provides their offspring with a minimum of eight full meals every day.
*** Crows have very rapid digestive systems. This accounts for them being able to eat large quantities of food even when they are babies.
*** The raven and crow are two different birds. The raven is larger and remains in northern regions throughout severe winters.
*** A crow, like a parrot, can learn to repeat words and even long phrases. This indicates a high degree of intelligence. It can associate words with meaning. Also, the crow responds to commands.
*** The crow is a scavenger and hunts along the sides of roads.
*** Crows warn each other of danger.
*** Crows build large basket type nests of sticks, bark, fur, leaves, and whatever else they can find that attracts their attention. Yearlings often help.
*** Scarecrows are useless in discouraging crows from raiding the garden.
*** Researchers have succeeded in distinguishing some 300 different crow calls. Five different crow calls have been distinguished to refer to different kinds of danger.
*** Crows dislike hawks and owls and chase them when the opportunity arises.
*** The crow's ability to learn new behaviors in a changing environment is one of the reasons they are as common as they are.
*** Crows have forward pointing bristles which cover their nostrils. This aids in preventing bacteria from entering their bodies when they feed on carrion.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
*** Crows incubate their eggs for 18 days. Within five weeks the baby crows are able to fly.
*** A crow can eat almost anything. Diet includes grains, insects, eggs, fruit, even carrion. Rarely do crows face a food shortage because they are so adaptable.
*** A crow gives up flock loyalty during nesting season. Attention is transferred to the female. Researchers believe that they mate for life and are model wildlife parents. A mate knows where the other is at all times. Even in flight, a slower mate is waited for so that the two can fly as a team.
*** During nesting the male provides the female with food. When the eggs hatch, the pair provides their offspring with a minimum of eight full meals every day.
*** Crows have very rapid digestive systems. This accounts for them being able to eat large quantities of food even when they are babies.
*** The raven and crow are two different birds. The raven is larger and remains in northern regions throughout severe winters.
*** A crow, like a parrot, can learn to repeat words and even long phrases. This indicates a high degree of intelligence. It can associate words with meaning. Also, the crow responds to commands.
*** The crow is a scavenger and hunts along the sides of roads.
*** Crows warn each other of danger.
*** Crows build large basket type nests of sticks, bark, fur, leaves, and whatever else they can find that attracts their attention. Yearlings often help.
*** Scarecrows are useless in discouraging crows from raiding the garden.
*** Researchers have succeeded in distinguishing some 300 different crow calls. Five different crow calls have been distinguished to refer to different kinds of danger.
*** Crows dislike hawks and owls and chase them when the opportunity arises.
*** The crow's ability to learn new behaviors in a changing environment is one of the reasons they are as common as they are.
*** Crows have forward pointing bristles which cover their nostrils. This aids in preventing bacteria from entering their bodies when they feed on carrion.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
Offering nesting materials to songbirds makes life easier for them
Birds can find nesting materials without our help, but having them readily available entices birds to nest in favorite backyards.
Place the nesting materials where birds can see them easily. Place nesting materials on shrubs, over a clothesline or in a suet basket and hang from a tree branch. Never place nesting materials in a nest box. Birds might think it was already occupied.
What to offer birds?
String that is no longer than 4"
Yarn that is no longer than 4"
Small rope no longer than 4"
Soft cloth pieces
Upholstery stuffing
Scraps of fur
Recently shed or combed pet hair
Cotton
Sphagnum moss
Clean Poultry feathers
Dried grasses
Healthy human hair
Pieces of wool
Soft bristles from old paint brushes
Do not offer terry cloth because of the possibility of birds getting their feet entangled in the strings. Also, yarns, strings, threads and ropes longer than 4" can be hazardous, because birds can entangle their delicate feet. Pet hair is a favorite as are poultry feathers because they contain enough natural oils to help a bird's nest repel water.
Food crop of berries for next years friends. Another 20 fall through early winter berry bearing bushes feed wildlife naturally.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
Place the nesting materials where birds can see them easily. Place nesting materials on shrubs, over a clothesline or in a suet basket and hang from a tree branch. Never place nesting materials in a nest box. Birds might think it was already occupied.
What to offer birds?
String that is no longer than 4"
Yarn that is no longer than 4"
Small rope no longer than 4"
Soft cloth pieces
Upholstery stuffing
Scraps of fur
Recently shed or combed pet hair
Cotton
Sphagnum moss
Clean Poultry feathers
Dried grasses
Healthy human hair
Pieces of wool
Soft bristles from old paint brushes
Do not offer terry cloth because of the possibility of birds getting their feet entangled in the strings. Also, yarns, strings, threads and ropes longer than 4" can be hazardous, because birds can entangle their delicate feet. Pet hair is a favorite as are poultry feathers because they contain enough natural oils to help a bird's nest repel water.
Food crop of berries for next years friends. Another 20 fall through early winter berry bearing bushes feed wildlife naturally.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
Spring has Sprung
Spring has Sprung
Spring has taken her rightful position as queen of the season only yesterday. Winter will tease spring several times during the next few weeks until the cold winds are blown out for another season.
Spring will not be deterred, thank the power that steers the universe. Whether is has been a cold, snowy winter, or a mild one, spring renews man's spirits, as it has for eons. Our ancestors surely crawled out of the caves, shed their animal skin coverings, and warmed themselves in the sun. The feeling is still the same.
Man sheds his heavy winter coats, gloves, and toboggans and sweatshirts, and greets the sun enthusiastically every year.
Man is still awed by the magic of seeds sprouting. It is still somewhat magical to ponder how sap at the roots of trees and shrubs knows when to begin its methodical movement upward toward leaf buds. Last weekend I pushed the leaves away from a portion of the lily bed, and surprised budding plants and myself. It is time that they were pushing through the earth, but finding them working, as they should be is always a pleasant early spring surprise. They have lay dormant for months, and now are working hard to put on an early
summer show that I wait for 11 months every year.
The early spring garden always brings my grandmother close to me again, as does the summer growing season. My fondest memories of her are in her kitchen creating delicacies for her family and preserving food for the worst of all winters to come. When she wasn't in the kitchen, she was in the garden prodding plants to produce for her kitchen. She knew flowers and vegetables like she knew her children and their children.
My grandmother had firm thoughts about daylight saving time. Her clock, the one that hung in the kitchen on the wall above her dough board table, always showed "God's time," and she didn't believe in setting it ahead or back.
The days are beginning to stretch in the morning and evening. Man earns his keep day to day, but those in tune with nature also live season to season. You sense the changing seasons most when you dig in the dirt.
Spending early years on a west Tennessee farm, tagging around after a German grandfather who spent his life farming, gave me a keen sense of what it meant to live season to season. The mind works with the season at hand, but ponders the season to follow.As I uncover plants beginning their spring growth cycle, my mind sees them in full bloom in early summer. It makes all the early spring gardening work well worth the aching back and sore muscles.
Regardless of how you feel about starlings being the one of the major pests of the western world, notice their brilliant yellow bills. They turn yellow as the breeding season approaches. The bill begins to change color at the base and the yellow spreads outward to the tip. The robin's bill is the same color in the springtime. It is signs of the season.
Purple martin houses need to be up and in place to receive the flocks coming in. Blue birds are already examining houses and choosing where they will nest this year. If you are putting up new houses, don't be discouraged if bluebirds decided to not nest in them this year. Sometimes it takes a season of looking,
examining, and then accepting them by the birds. All birdhouses should be cleaned and ready for use by the
time spring arrives.
In nature, spring is the season of reproduction. Wild turkeys are courting and will establish continue to gobble through April. Male red-winged blackbirds are arriving and setting up territories around area ponds. Mourning doves are beginning to pair and coo. Some doves will raise as many as five pairs of
offspring before next fall. The female lays only two eggs, and then begins to incubate them. Squirrels are already busy having their first babies of the year. Songbirds are singing and calling for mates. Nature has risen from the depths of darkness and cold again.
May you always hear the whisper of wings.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
Spring has taken her rightful position as queen of the season only yesterday. Winter will tease spring several times during the next few weeks until the cold winds are blown out for another season.
Spring will not be deterred, thank the power that steers the universe. Whether is has been a cold, snowy winter, or a mild one, spring renews man's spirits, as it has for eons. Our ancestors surely crawled out of the caves, shed their animal skin coverings, and warmed themselves in the sun. The feeling is still the same.
Man sheds his heavy winter coats, gloves, and toboggans and sweatshirts, and greets the sun enthusiastically every year.
Man is still awed by the magic of seeds sprouting. It is still somewhat magical to ponder how sap at the roots of trees and shrubs knows when to begin its methodical movement upward toward leaf buds. Last weekend I pushed the leaves away from a portion of the lily bed, and surprised budding plants and myself. It is time that they were pushing through the earth, but finding them working, as they should be is always a pleasant early spring surprise. They have lay dormant for months, and now are working hard to put on an early
summer show that I wait for 11 months every year.
The early spring garden always brings my grandmother close to me again, as does the summer growing season. My fondest memories of her are in her kitchen creating delicacies for her family and preserving food for the worst of all winters to come. When she wasn't in the kitchen, she was in the garden prodding plants to produce for her kitchen. She knew flowers and vegetables like she knew her children and their children.
My grandmother had firm thoughts about daylight saving time. Her clock, the one that hung in the kitchen on the wall above her dough board table, always showed "God's time," and she didn't believe in setting it ahead or back.
The days are beginning to stretch in the morning and evening. Man earns his keep day to day, but those in tune with nature also live season to season. You sense the changing seasons most when you dig in the dirt.
Spending early years on a west Tennessee farm, tagging around after a German grandfather who spent his life farming, gave me a keen sense of what it meant to live season to season. The mind works with the season at hand, but ponders the season to follow.As I uncover plants beginning their spring growth cycle, my mind sees them in full bloom in early summer. It makes all the early spring gardening work well worth the aching back and sore muscles.
Regardless of how you feel about starlings being the one of the major pests of the western world, notice their brilliant yellow bills. They turn yellow as the breeding season approaches. The bill begins to change color at the base and the yellow spreads outward to the tip. The robin's bill is the same color in the springtime. It is signs of the season.
Purple martin houses need to be up and in place to receive the flocks coming in. Blue birds are already examining houses and choosing where they will nest this year. If you are putting up new houses, don't be discouraged if bluebirds decided to not nest in them this year. Sometimes it takes a season of looking,
examining, and then accepting them by the birds. All birdhouses should be cleaned and ready for use by the
time spring arrives.
In nature, spring is the season of reproduction. Wild turkeys are courting and will establish continue to gobble through April. Male red-winged blackbirds are arriving and setting up territories around area ponds. Mourning doves are beginning to pair and coo. Some doves will raise as many as five pairs of
offspring before next fall. The female lays only two eggs, and then begins to incubate them. Squirrels are already busy having their first babies of the year. Songbirds are singing and calling for mates. Nature has risen from the depths of darkness and cold again.
May you always hear the whisper of wings.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
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