Signs of the Season

Well it’s finally here. After a cold snowy winter, the signs of warmer weather and green surroundings are upon us. Don’t get me wrong; I like winter, and this last one was one of the best I can remember in a long time. OK, I hear you grumbling, but you have to admit that there is something beautiful and peaceful about our hills covered in snow, the shadowy blue tinge of the farm fields with their wind-swept drifts and our streams with water just barely visible through the extended banks of snow and ice. That being said, it is also nice to know winter is behind us. Spring seems to have taken some extra time getting here. We are in mid-April already and we still see the remnants of our local sugaring operations: buckets stacked up near the barns, drying out after their final washing for the season; sap collection tanks flipped upside down and tubing lines “unplugged” and draining, waiting to be buttoned up for the year. There was a lot of sap to be had this year, though it’s hard to get to because of all the snow (first) and (eventually) mud. For some sugarmakers, the sugar content of the sap was lower than usual this spring. Because this requires the sap to be boiled longer to accumulate the sweetness that defines syrup, the resulting product can be slightly darker in color or grade. Our syrup this year was in fact darker though we didn’t check the sugar content of the sap. No matter though. I like the darker grade the best and so do most other people, or so it seems.As the sugaring equipment goes back into the sugar house for another year, birds are making their appearances. Red-winged blackbirds have been here for some time now, even with ample snow still on the ground. Our first Eastern phoebes (one of our flycatchers) arrived recently, a welcome sign that warmer weather is coming. Our ponds and rivers are full of ducks, some migrating through and others making our area their final destination for a place to raise their young. Keep an eye out for the remaining puddles in farm fields and along roadways. These make excellent stopover points for returning ducks and other waterfowl and are very active right now.The chorus of amphibians has finally begun. It seemed like it took forever to hear the familiar sounds of spring peepers, wood frogs and others emanating from our wetlands. Now is the time to be careful driving on our roads at night, especially during a light warm rain. A ride from Sharon to West Cornwall that would normally take me 20 minutes took me a lot longer recently, primarily because I stopped and watched as literally hundreds of frogs and salamanders made their way across the road from one wetland to another. Some were deliberate about it, not wasting any time (the smart ones!). Others stopped and seemed to enjoy the warmth of the road and their dark surroundings, almost inquisitively as the rest of the world ran and hopped past them. I urge you to take their cue (though not in the middle of the road). Take some time this week to enjoy nature. For a more formal experience, the Audubon Center is offering Spring Break nature programs for children April 19 to 21 and an Egg Event for young children, Saturday, April 23. For more information, go online to www.sharon.audubon.org. Scott Heth is the director of Audubon Sharon and can be reached at sheth@audubon.org, (subject line: Nature Notes).