EPHEMERIS FOR THE FOURTH WEEK OF EARLY SPRING

The Sixteenth Week Of The Natural Year

When Snowdrops, Aconites and Snow Crocus Bloom in the Lower Midwest

And When Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds Cackle and Whistle in the Trees

The Running Maple Sap Moon, squeezing late sap from the maple trees, wanes through its final phase this week, becoming the new Golden Goldfinch Moon at 5:01 p.m. on March 15. As daffodils bud and flower in the weeks ahead, goldfinches gradually take on their summer color, blending in with those new daffodils as well as forecasting the forsythia soon to bloom.

On March 14, Daylight Savings Time begins at 2:00 a.m., stretching the evenings by an hour to their full spring length. Robin song in the dark begins Sunday morning at 7:15 (EDT).
After midnight, search the night sky for the Normid meteors, that shower reaching its peak on March 13 -14.

WATCHING THE THAW

For several days the earth generally has been bare – I see the tawney and brown earth – the fescue and lichen clad hills….

Thoreau, Journal, February 27, 1860

February 27: Thaw beginning, more odor of skunk at 7:30 this evening, almost two feet of snow on the ground.

March 3: Cardinals were singing at 6:40 this morning. At 9:30, Casey reported 25 black buzzards on both sides of Grinnell Road up by the spring.

March 4: Woke up to a clear moon setting into the dark blue sky, then the sun came up and stayed out. In the yard, snowdrops were budded through the snow, one hellebore stalk had fat buds, a few pussy willow tips were showing. Wild onions were unraveling. Tulips were up an inch, the leaves tight and red, some daffodils at the west edge of the yard were three inches tall, and many were budded. The drifts of a week ago had retreated away from the sidewalk a few inches on both sides.

March 5: Cardinal heard at 6:35 this morning. The second day of sun, and the thaw continued today, larger islands of brown and green appearing in the back yard, especially against the south wall and the southern exposure of the stone fence. Now there are continents of greening land, the great glacier of February ceding to the first cloudless week since November.

March 6: A third day of sun in a row, and the thaw continues with the temperature close to 40 degrees. Near the pond, the crocus plants show tall purple buds. The pussy willows keep edging out, showing more bright catkins against the pure blue sky.

March 7: Cardinals and doves started to sing at 6:27 this morning, and the bird chorus was strong for hours. The first grackles of the year arrived at the birdfeeder about 8:00, and I saw more along the alley later in the morning. This is the same day that in 2008 the grackles came to town during a blizzard.
At the covered bridge, skunk cabbage was red, most plants closed but a few in bloom. The ground muddy, patches of chickweed, garlic mustard, sedum. The hillsides alternated between full snow and full brown, depending on the curve of the riverbed. In town the north side of Dayton Street had melted, the south side still lay in February. Ellis Pond was still completely frozen, but DeWine’s Pond was a little more than half open. When we checked the crocus along the south wall at about 2:00 this afternoon, we found three of them partially in bloom. Later, we saw six doves in the back yard – the first time so many this year. Two of them were courting under the honeysuckles, chasing back and forth. At the back porch, the icemelt plunks and taps in a complex rhythm into flooded flowerpots and onto the bricks and the green plastic watering can. Clouds in the evening, the first rain shower of spring after dark.

March 8: The day is a mix of hazy clouds and sun, the snow continuing to retreat. The high reached into the 50s this afternoon, several snowdrops and the purple crocus near the pond opened up all the way. Pussy willows continue to push out slowly, but no catkin has emerged completely. Jean and I worked outside for a while after lunch, and when we came in, there was a message from Naida Sutch, who said that two of the geese she had been watching for several years returned to the Friends’ Care pond, the earliest she’d seen them come back.

March 9: At 6:15 this morning, the robin chorus was already underway, the crescent moon rising, temperature just below freezing. (This is the earliest I’ve heard robins in March.) At daybreak, grackles were clucking in the walnut trees to the south, the sky streaked pink and blue and gold, cardinals and doves singing. Walking downtown, Jean and I saw crocus ready to open and the bright globes of new aconites. In the alley, grackles in the high maples. A little before 9:00, four turkey vultures circled the yard then moved west. By the middle of the morning, the first yellow snow crocus opened in the east garden. At noon, Greg called with the news he had seen the first groundhog of the year behind his house. He had seen the first chipmunk out and around the snow two days ago. Then Judy wrote from Goshen, 200 miles northwest of here: “The first redwing blackbird song of the season!!!! Heard this morning about 9:00 a.m. on Angel's walk.” And Casey called about 3:00 to say he was watching about three dozen vultures, some black vulture, some turkey vultures circling along Corey Street, the first mixed flock he had seen. Working in the garden later in the afternoon, I saw that the rhubarb had pushed through the mulch just a little and the peony stalks were barely visible in the places the snow had gone. By the end of the day, snowdrops were in full bloom, the last snow in full retreat, rain moving in.

March 10: The robins were late this morning, singing only near 6:25 – along with doves and cardinals. On my walk at 9:00, grackles, robins, cardinals were loud. Behind Katie’s house, the yard was yellow with aconites. More snow crocus bloomed today in the east garden, yellows and purples. Almost all the pussy willow catkins have emerged now. By the end of the day - high in the 60s again - only a few patches of snow remain in the yard, and most of the village is tawny spring green.