Never mind the birds, the winter cover’s off the boat
Issue 36 : May/Jun 2004
Chickadees in Minnesota are substituting their nervous chick-a-dee-dee-dee twitter for a heartfelt phoebee-phoebee song. The male cardinals, too, are establishing their territories and announcing their availability as potential fathers with their own spring song, which declares them as pretty-pretty-pretty. As some of the flashiest of the bird world, they know their boast to be true. They must be irresistible to female cardinals. Soon there will be more. It’s been going on for thousands of years.
The snow’s gone, although you never know for sure until the very end of April. There could always be one more surprise snowfall. We’ve celebrated the spring equinox. And we’ve moved our watches one hour ahead to daylight savings. Surely it must be spring!
If you look closely, you’ll notice green grass sprouting through the brown here in Minnesota. The tentative little buds on the trees are surer of themselves every day. Soon the flowering trees will burst into bloom. The others will put on their virgin green, and daffodils will spring into dazzling yellow on the sunny sides of many homes. The neighborhood kids — a hardy group — have taken to wearing shorts at every opportunity. I’ve already seen one fellow going barefoot. Brrr! But even our winter coats hang neglected in the closet. Everywhere I look, kids are throwing balls. Jerry has aired up the tires on our bikes.
Soon the male wrens will drift north to woo females in the wren houses in our yard with that incredible virtuoso performance of theirs. The robins are here already. I’m alert for loon calls from our nearby lake. They won’t stay, but I enjoy the calls as they hang out for a day or two on their way to northern paradises only they know about.
All of these are valid signs of spring. But there’s just one thing that counts, really counts, as far as I’m concerned: today we took the winter cover off our boat. Sailing season cannot be far behind!
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
