It’s time to put on your spring eyes and ears.
Already, sandhill cranes are flying over the northern Illinois landscape, chortling, calling and announcing they are ready to begin another season of nesting. These large, beautiful, long-legged waders add a dimension to the outdoors life in March — and one that is heard now more than ever after the species returned from the edge of extinction in our state three decades ago.
We experience joy and hope when we hear the cranes in March, more so than when they are flying back south in November.
I used to claim May as my favorite month of the year when all the migratory songbirds were singing and flitting from branch to branch, feasting on caterpillars and other insects, and so many native plants were blooming in a full array of color.
But March really does have a chance to become my favorite month, perhaps because it is full of promise. April and May will come soon enough, and before you know it the sights and sounds of spring will be gone.
You likely don’t have to go anywhere except your backyard to hear the northern cardinals declaring that nesting time is nigh. Their “what cheer cheer” songs echo across my neighborhood at all times of the day in March.
Red-winged blackbirds are back, too, singing the telltale three-syllable “on-ka-lee” song, accenting the final syllable to make sure you’ve heard them. Right now, the sound is beautiful and spring-like. Later this summer, we’ll be warned with hovering and raucous calls if we get too close to their nests.
Suddenly, we begin complaining about the blackbirds, while right now in March, we rejoice that they are here. So, stay here in March.
Some cold weather and a bit of snow will fall in March. But the voices of nature continue. Once we have reached the vernal equinox with 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark, many bird species can hardly contain themselves anymore.
Male and female cardinals are together now. All winter, they ignored one another or even chased each other away from prime feeding spots. But now they take their place side by side on the feeder and offer a sunflower seed to one another.
Robins are back, too, not because they all left this winter, but because the ground is softening enough for them to tug at some worms for sustenance. You may have seen a robin eating some berries on a crabapple this winter, but in March, you can hear the song of the American robin at dusk. “Cheerio-cheeriup” it sings as the light fades, sometimes even after dark has taken over.
When it comes to plants in March, it still seems brown and gray out there — but some green is showing, and March is the time to look at every single green thing you see in your yard. Before long, May will be so overrun with green things that you’ll forget the joy of seeing the first leaves of the bloodroot pierce the ground like arrows reaching for light.
It’s even heartening to just look at the space where the Virginia bluebells will open next month, but are now beneath the soil waiting to emerge.
I searched for signs of green on a cold March morning and discovered some sedges in my yard with green strap-like leaves. I also noted some green heart-shaped leaves of the sweet violet, which will bloom later this spring, and though they are not green, the reddish flower buds of the silver maple trees are getting ready to bloom.
These buds provide food for birds and mammals, especially when other sources of nourishment are scarce in early spring.
The climax of spring, usually mid-May, is when 20 or more species of warblers can be seen in woodlands, flashing grays, blues, yellows, greens and reds, and each Baltimore oriole you hear delivers unique melodies, and the great white trilliums blanket the rolling forest floor as wild geraniums reach five petals of pink a foot high.
There are only a few days like that in May. It doesn’t last long. But if you begin looking and listening for spring now in March, you realize that it’s all a continuum to be enjoyed.
Don’t be too anxious for April and May, hoping for the perfect weather, the perfect bloom or the perfect Baltimore oriole to flash its black and orange colors. Instead, focus on March and what you see and hear. Take notes. Take pictures. Take time to be in the month, to focus on what you see and hear right now.
I’m betting that will make April and May even more enjoyable.
Sheryl DeVore has worked as a full-time and freelance reporter, editor and photographer for the Chicago Tribune and its subsidiaries. She’s the author of several books on nature and the environment and co-author of a coming book on “Birds of the Midwest,” to be published by Timber Press. Send story ideas and thoughts to sheryldevorewriter@gmail.com.
