Spring announces itself

The flicker’s call can last even longer than in this video, taken yesterday in the back yard.

The past two days, the flickers have been singing and drilling on metal street objects — their loudest instrument. Today, I can hear four or five different species of birds. In a nearby wood, a proper sort of woodpecker made quick work of an old stump. The trees here provide many resting places for migratory and resident birds.

It’s warm enough in the sun for a t-shirt. My neighbour two doors down, Pat, is gardening in short sleeves. He rakes the life into his garden, stands tall to examine his work, and leans to tend by hand. People pass quietly by on the street, on foot and bicycle. It’s a pleasant contrast against the cars that roar by and mask the bird calls.

Croci in the garden have opened wide like purple and white bows on presents. Yellowed bamboo squeaks against the metal railing of my observation deck. Sailboats leisurely drift on the water amid the sun’s sparkles. The wind is too gentle to disturb those branches ripe for spring with their tell-tale fuzziness, reaching to the sky, cheerful. You can see the red and yellow signs of life in some of them, regardless of distance. Even the mountains — the tops still glazed with snow — seem to have a warmer glow. This long winter of monotonous weather will soon be forgotten.

The flickers will prance about with the robins and other birds for whom our lawns are their buffet table. The birds that sang long into the evening tonight will keep up their song for the next several months, if my memory of last year’s musical summer gets an encore.

Hello spring! Welcome back!

Homepage photo by doviende via Flickr