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Spring officially arrived on March 20 and the year has turned. Now we have more minutes of daylight than dark. In wet places the spice bushes are covered with tiny yellow-green flowers. On a recent drive along Route 688, I saw the shad blow, or serviceberry, tree in full bloom. Among the still bare woodland trees, it looked as if it had received a private fall of snowflakes. This smallish tree is the first to bloom and, because of that, most welcome and very beautiful.
At the bird feeder, a male cardinal is feeding the female. Only a few weeks ago he would not tolerate the brown-toned, red-tinged female within five feet of him. Two blue jays bounce down on the feeder together; they stay close and pick up seeds in a manner more than companionable.
Then there are grackles. I have tried in the past to be open minded about these black, long-tailed birds with iridescent plumage that glints purple, blue, and even green in certain lights. Common Grackles, as they are officially known, have a curious manner of finding food. They stride about like cocky adolescent boys in tight jeans and pick up dead leaves, tossing them right and left. Any critter hiding among last year’s leaves is quickly eaten.
In a comical courtship display, inseparable from their aggressive posture, grackles
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