Spring Has Sprung – Kind Of

    ​While spring hasn’t officially arrived, it has sent its emissaries to cheer us.

While it closely resembles dandelion flowers, coltsfoot is in fact a sign of incoming spring.

​    Here are some indicators that true spring draws near. First, coltsfoot, a dandelion look-alike, is in flower. Coltsfoot ranks as the very first wildflower of spring. This low-growing plant has brilliant-yellow blossoms and a stand of blooming coltsfoot has power to cheer the most obdurate, winter-weary heart.
​    Next, chives have broken the surface and even if snow and cold weather return, the chives will not only survive, but they will thrive. Once the green spears protrude from the ground, there’s no turning back. 

    Chickadees have changed their call to a raspy, “fee-bee,” something they do every spring just ahead of mating season. 
    A flock of Canada geese flew over last week, another indicator of coming warmer weather. 
    Lastly, large flocks of robins are in evidence all over, including in my yard and on my crabapple tree. There, these members of the thrush family pick the tiny, red crabapples that have made it through the winter. And instead of being “resident” robins, the kind that spend winters on the coast, these are present in sufficient numbers to tell me that they are true migrants, the red-red robins of spring. 
    So there we have it. We’ll certainly see more cold weather and even some snow, but it means nothing. Spring stands at our doorstep and there’s no turning back. 

Tom Seymour, Maine writer and naturalist, has written over a dozen titles including: Getting Your Big Fish: Trolling Maine Waters, Wild Plants of Maine: A Useful Guide, Forager’s Notebook, Wild Critters of Maine: Everyday Encounters, and Hidden World Revealed: Musings of a Maine Naturalist from Just Write Books LLC, Topsham, Maine. Seymour has also written a multitude of monthly features including his popular “Maine Wildlife” for The Maine Sportsman Magazine.