It’s March and spring is on the way. I thought we could look at some of the things that start to happen in nature as winter’s cold hand finally lets go and the warmer breezes of spring begin to blow.
Crocuses, daffodils, and tulips begin to bloom in early spring. Hyacinths begin to bloom in mid-spring. And when late spring arrives irises begin to bloom.
The animals that have hibernated through the cold winter months start waking up. Soon bears, ground squirrels and chipmunks, groundhogs, hedgehogs, woodchucks, prairie dogs, skunks, bats, box turtles, bumblebees, garter snakes, snails, lizards, ladybugs, and moths will be popping out of their sleeping places to welcome the sunshine and warmer temperatures.
Did you know? In Florida, it rains lizards. When the temperature drops below 45 degrees F, the lizards undergo a temporary cold shock and fall out of trees and off walls and fences. But don’t worry, once the temperature gets warm again, they wake right up. Source: news.miami.edu/as/stories/2022/why-do-lizards-plummet-in-the-cold
Every spring, it is estimated that 3.5 million birds fly back home from the south where they have found food and warm temperatures during the winter months. These include meadowlarks, robins (though some robins do stick around), certain sparrows, bald eagles, ducks and geese, bluebirds, finches, and killdeers. Who hasn’t seen flocks of Canada geese flying overhead on their way to warm southern fields. Some birds fly as much as 1,000 miles to reach their winter home. According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, when you hear the backyard birds—robins, sparrows, and the like—singing, that is one of the best predictors that spring is not far away.
“Bluebirds are a sign of spring; warm weather and gentle southern breezes they bring.”
Did you know? The Baltimore oriole and the meadowlark are related. The bald eagle cruises at a leisurely 30 mph, but can dive up to 100 mph. A Ruppel’s griffon vulture holds the record for the highest flying altitude at 37,000 feet (that’s seven miles). The Arctic tern flies 49,700 miles in a year during their round-trip to and from the Arctic to their breeding grounds in the Antarctic. The bird lives 30 years, so that is the equivalent of three trips to the moon and back!
My favorite spring song is from the spring peepers. Frogs! Tiny amphibians singing loudly around dusk.
The barren trees and bushes show signs of life—the eastern redbud, southern magnolia, flowering dogwood, rhododendron and azalea, lilac (my personal favorite), flowering cherry, crabapple, and forsythia. Oak, elm, maple, and sycamore will begin to leaf-out later in mid-April.
As winter’s cold begins to give way to warm spring temperatures, we can praise God for His marvelous handiwork.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” Psalm 19:1–4
Spring and summer bring the beautiful flowers of so many varying colors and green leaves that wave gently in the breezes, along with the fruits and vegetables that can be harvested and eaten during summer and fall or stored away for winter and spring.
Fall brings the bright red, gold, and orange leaves that signal the end of summer and the soon onset again of winter.
But even in winter, we are reminded that spring will soon come again by the beautiful evergreen trees—the spruce, cypress, juniper, fir, redwood, and cedar. The needles of the evergreen can change color in the winter, but they do not drop from the tree.
Did you know? The true definition of an evergreen is simply a tree that doesn’t lose its leaves.
“The beauty of [the man who loves God is] his well-ordered life and godly conversation [that] inspires faith and hope and courage in others. This is Christianity in practice. Seek to be an evergreen tree.” My Life Today, 50
Other sources: bhg.com/gardening/trees-shrubs-vines/trees/best-flowering-trees-shrubs; Audubon.org/news/9-awesome-facts-about-bird-migration; faunafacts.com/birds/birds-that-fly-south-for-winter