SCOTT SHALAWAY Watching for signs of spring

Swelling buds, singing birds, greening grass. Spring makes life worth living. Here are some more sure signs of spring to look for in the coming weeks.
Crocuses, daffodils, and forsythias brighten even the dullest backyards. Coltsfoot blooms on roadsides -- it's the bright yellow flower that's easily confused with dandelion, which will soon follow. Morels will soon pop up overnight under dead elm and apple trees.
Time and rain
Longer days and shorter nights. Gentle rains. Egg masses deposited by frogs, toads and salamanders in almost every vernal pond. Streams lined with eager anglers on the first day of trout season. Kingfishers and great blue herons fishing every day, without a license and with no limits. Little girls and boys catching crawdads in a stream.
Turkey vultures warming themselves in the morning sun and later soaring on thermals overhead. Six-foot rat snakes sunbathing on sun-baked country roads. Goldfinches molting from their drab winter plumage into brilliant lemon drops. Tent caterpillars.
The steadily increasing toll of road-killed opossums, skunks and raccoons as they roam in search of mates.
Dogs eager to sleep away sunny days on the deck. Cats just as eager to sleep 23 hours each day, indoors.
Turkeys gobbling. Grouse drumming. Squirrels barking. Screech-owls whistling. Coyotes yipping.
Bird coloration
The shocking brilliance of Baltimore orioles, scarlet tanagers, indigo buntings, blackburnian warblers and red efts. The incredible camouflage of gray tree frogs, woodcock, copperheads and hen mallards.
Flocks of robins hunting earthworms in the yard. Chipmunks raiding bird feeders. Groundhogs munching roadside greenery. Ladybird beetles gathering inside sunny windows trying to find their way outside. A phoebe building a nest on the porch light fixture. Killdeer scurrying about on lawns, parking lots and cemeteries. Baby cottontails scampering across the yard.
Butterflies and box turtles
Butterflies in hay fields. Meadowlarks singing on fence posts. Box turtles emerging from a long winter sleep. Barns swallows and kingbirds returning to local farms. Mourning doves cooing on a power line. Snapping turtles crossing roads in search of the perfect nest site. Checking a nest box and being startled by the big, black eyes of a lactating flying squirrel.
Dragonflies, damselflies, tree swallows, yellowthroats, and red-winged blackbirds patrolling territories in a cattail marsh. On warm rainy nights, frogs leaping across the warm roadways.
Arms bloodied by multiflora rose. The sound of lawn mowers and the sweet aroma of freshly cut grass. The "crack" of a baseball bat connecting with a fastball. (OK, these days it's more often the unnatural "ping" of a metal bat). Working in the yard until the day is done. Dirt under my fingernails. Washing up with brisk, hand-pumped water. Sleeping with the windows open.
At dusk, bats patrolling the yard, a chorus of spring peepers, kids playing hide-and-seek, and the oh, so sweet yodel of a wood thrush singing vespers. And maybe, if you're by a lake, the yodel of a loon.
Evening serenade
An evening serenade by a whippoorwill, one of those considerate birds that calls its own name. Nighthawks sweeping insects from the sky over city streets. Big fat toads hunting moths and beetles beneath the porch light. And this spring, sunset giving way to five naked eye planets -- Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter.
These are a few of my favorite things during my favorite season. But to many, spring is defined by the return of the hummingbirds. They arrived on the Gulf coast several weeks ago and have been working their way northward ever since. I expect the first male around April 20th. So I'll be optimistic and get a feeder up on the 15th. Nothing's more embarrassing than being ill-prepared when the hummers return. They hover persistently in the exact spots where feeders hung last year, seeming to ask, "How could you be so irresponsible?"
So rather than be shamed by a bird that weighs no more than a nickel, I'll make my nectar early this year (mix one part table sugar with four parts boiling water, then cool and refrigerate). And that's one more sure sign of spring -- a jug of nectar in the fridge.
sshalaway@aol.com