March Nature Notes: Signs of Spring

Suffering from the winter blues? Spring fever really sets in this month, as do the very first signs of spring. Cooped up all winter, we begin to notice the days are getting longer. We experience our first spells of warm weather although we’re not “out of the woods” for snow yet.          

It is the season of rebirth. Along the window ledges we spot the occasional ladybirds, box elder beetles and wasps confused by the warm days. The “first signs of spring” robins can be seen searching for new bugs and worms brought to the surface by the spring rains. A walk through the woods this month reveals spring wildflowers popping up and buds beginning to form on the trees. The streams are rushing and there is the smell of clean, fresh, yet still, crisp air. Gnats and other insects hover along the water’s edge. Watch close for shed deer antlers and the sun shimmering off the red-tail of a circling hawk. Squirrels gather nesting materials and birds become vocal. Male cardinals sing their whoit, whoit, whoit, doves coo, and great-horned owls exchange hoots in the distance.          

The temperatures may not show it, but listen and look. Spring is all around you. Spring will officially be here before you know it, and the snow birds will be replaced with the excited call “the robins are here, the robins are here!” 

Stacey Johnson is the Natural Resources Coordinator at Kankakee River State Park.

By: Stacey Johnson