February, fading #phenology

For the next several days we're going to enjoy temperatures above freezing, for at least part of each day. That has me believing the snow may someday actually melt, grasses may green, Spring may spring, peepers may peep, and the wildflower seeds I spread last Autumn may germinate and we'll have a micro-prairie out under the burr oak? Anything seems to be possible these days, so why not anticipate some pleasant, even beneficial, surprises. As I've been walking the dogs the past few days, I've been looking at the snow banks sitting on top of where the seeds were spread and starting to wonder:

• how many, if any, will blossom his Spring?
• will they blossom early, late, in between?
• will the rabbit that's over-Wintered under the front stoop nibble them as soon as they sprout?

how long until we see the beginnings of bud burst?

Photo by J. Harrington

Months ago, as I was raking, scattering and tamping, I had major reservations about whether the rewards would be worth the effort. Just the anticipation of what may come is turning into a payoff equal to the planting preparation. Flowers will be the proverbial icing on the cake.
There's still no signs of returning goldfinches, nor purple finches nor juncoes headed North again. Is it possible that four or five days of above freezing temperatures will entice them back, or will we have to wait until most of the snow is gone? Meanwhile, we get to enjoy multitudes of chickadees, white- and red-breasted nuthatches, downey and hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers, plus the occasional visits from a gang of bluejays. We've been seeing more and more bald eagles recently. It's not clear whether they're returning from Winter range or if they overwintered locally, although  I suspect the former.

do we have to wait another month for purple finches?

Photo by J. Harrington

Soon we'll be able to realistically anticipate the return of Canada geese, swans, sandhill cranes and open waters. Perhaps it's my rapidly advancing age, but I'm almost as excited as I used to get when I was a kid looking forward to Santa at Christmas. Spring may not be in the  air quite yet, but it's close enough to make me realize some things are more urgent, for the moment, than politics and about as important.

February

Jill Osier

Sometimes a flag quietly appears

and leads one to a camp in the snow.

Oh, I am sick. I fade, I fall,

I curse this month, all it wants

to be. Its lot is the same

each time, unthawed.

Yet it taunts.

Dreamer month!

Another is just as warm,

as firm, as close to sweat and sigh

as I was, and this month

knows it. This month

sits close-lipped

and wise before the fire.

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