The birds are singing again! That means spring will come, no matter how hard winter tries to hold on. This winter has been more like the winters I remember as a child. There was lots of snow and much colder weather than we generally have now. I remember that early spring was cold, and no one planted until the end of May. Now we seem to go directly from winter to summer, with no in between weather.

But to Love: great horned owls have already mated and started sitting on eggs. They don’t migrate, because they are able to hunt mice through the snow with their superb hearing. I heard one recently, hooting from the woods. I’m waiting now for the chickadees to change their song, and for the red-winged blackbirds to arrive. Those are excellent signs that spring is around the corner. Red tailed hawks have already returned. It may also be that some did not migrate, because I saw one in December. Chipmunks have already come up from underground to find each other, and by now, the females are pregnant. I saw several chipmunks chasing along the stone walls around Valentine’s Day, a very appropriate time for love.

Plants are also telling us that spring is coming. Maple sap is running, and snowdrops have already come and gone. Tree buds will swell soon, and crocuses will be in flower. T he closer spring gets the more I think of getting out to garden. There are a bunch of damaged shrubs that have to be pruned and snow-pressed leaves to be raked. (I wonder why they didn’t get cleaned up last fall.) I have already started a few tomato seeds, and I will start a lot more as time goes on. Most of them will be planted at the Nature Center, and a few will make it to planters here at home. I can almost taste fresh tomatoes already.