Signs of Spring at Greensprings Natural Cemetery.

Lynn Leopold, Chair, Ecological Advisory Committee

In March, it’s time to clean out the Bluebird boxes, as those tough little veterans of eastern winters will be scoping out possible nest sites, and it’s important to clean out the old bird and mouse nests before the Tree swallows arrive and start taking over every available box. So, sometime mid-March I was tending the boxes and stopped to listen for the first signs of spring at Greensprings. I stood still and cocked my ears, straining against the wind that seems to blow constantly out there, to hear what I might that told me that winter was ending. In a few minutes, there it was, the sweet, gentle warble of an Eastern Bluebird, singing from the top of one of the empty nest boxes. How reassuring! Winter was exiting stage left, and some Bluebirds survived the winter and were house-hunting. Wonderful!

The very earliest signs of spring are usually the return of the Turkey vultures, cruising silently and gracefully over the open meadows. Admittedly, some stay around all winter, but we don’t usually see them at Greensprings, so when I spotted a small contingent of them over our meadows, they were indeed the first birds to return from southern climes. Soon after them appeared the first Song sparrows, who seem to take over almost every thicket and bush during nesting season, followed by a few hardy Field sparrows singing their odd little “bouncing ping-pong ball” song from shrubs and trees at the edges of the fields. Soon after came the first Tree swallows zooming over the meadows, ready to start checking out the Bluebird boxes. Robins coming up from a bit farther south begin to show up in late March, advertising their cheery songs from treetops. They are our most common thrush species, inhabiting nearly every ecological niche, including yards, barns, sheds, forests, meadow edges, mountains, and the list goes on. 

Most notable this spring, about 3 weeks ago, I heard a familiar song, looked up and spied an Eastern meadowlark in all it’s yellow and black glory singing from a bare tree. This was an encouraging sign, since we have been manipulating our open meadow habitat to encourage these birds to nest. Their numbers have been declining, along with many other common North American songbird species, which is very troubling. We are hoping to entice a family of these wonderful blackbird family birds to take up residence in one of our meadows. I didn’t hear the bird again, but it’s worth monitoring our fields in the hopes that we might get a breeding pair. This is the second year in a row that I have heard and seen an Eastern meadowlark next to the East meadow, so have my fingers crossed. They have the sweetest song ever, and some of the clever Starlings around our buildings have learned to mimic their songs. One has to look twice to be sure who is singing before declaring that it was the Meadowlark.

We are also hoping to entice a pair of American kestrels to take up housekeeping in the newly-erected kestrel box. We know they nest in the area, in a hole in a tree somewhere nearby, but to have them in the east meadow would be very special.

Another sure sign of spring is ice melting on the “In Pond” next to the driveway, and the “Out Pond” near the east meadow. As soon as ice is out, the Wood frogs show up, thawing their remarkable antifreeze blood, hopping into the nearest waterbodies for the purpose of mating and laying eggs. Sure enough, one was “quacking” from the In Pond in early April. Wood frogs are one of my favorites, and as the name says, they actually live in the woods, using water solely for the purpose of reproduction. Once they are done with that, they hang around for a while in the pond, then hop off and go overland to wait out the seasons before they have to burrow down in the leaf litter to overwinter.

As spring progresses, other birds begin to put in appearances, starting with the Eastern Phoebe, an early arrival that prefers our barns, sheds and outbuildings for nesting. Their old nests are everywhere evident in the Mule shed and old horse stables behind the farmstead area. Their “feebee” call announcing their arrival is to me another clincher that we made it through the winter! I love Phoebes!

Next come all manner of early tropical migrants, such as Yellow-rumped warblers, who come through well before the trees leaf out. Eastern towhees scratch about in the undergrowth, making their “chewink” calls and “Drink-your-tea” songs. I often hear tiny Ruby-crowned kinglets, our smallest songbird, singing from spruces and pines as they wend their way to more northern climes. A beautiful song for such a tiny songster!

During May, migrants come in such a rush that it’s a bit mind-boggling to keep up. Many of the Neotropical migrants that come up from Central and South America are actually not “our” birds, but are just visitors, flying huge distances just to find the perfect breeding sites to raise the next generation, returning to the tropics when they have finished their tasks. We borrow them for a few months and then have to say good-bye to them in the late summer and fall. But many birds at Greensprings stay all year, so all is not lost. We have many woodpecker species, loveable Chickadees, Nuthatches, Juncos, Cardinals, Carolina wrens, overwintering sparrows of various types, Red-tailed hawks, to name a few. There is never a dearth of birds to watch and hear, regardless of the time of year.

Greensprings is a wonderful place to watch this spectacle of migration, as so many species come through on their way farther north. Some stay, the most wonderful of which is the Bobolink, a bird that has given its name to one of our burial areas. Nothing is more glorious that watching these little showmen take to the air, singing all the while the most beautiful cascade of trills and burbles. They are a miracle!

For those who want to know more about the songs of our common summer visitors and resident birds, the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology has a wealth of free information on bird ID, songs, and much more. Go to: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/how-to-learn-bird-songs-and-calls/

And be sure to walk our paths this spring (wear your rubber boots!) and bring your binoculars. You will not regret it! And if you feel particularly adventurous, you can continue on into Arnot Forest for more avian treasures.