Marching onward

March is mostly a dreary weather month around here. It's not quite warm enough to be conducive to springtime outdoor activities, and it's not cold enough to be conducive to winter sports. But there are some subtle signs of spring that give us hope. I recorded my first red-winged blackbird of the year on Feb. 24. Red-wings don't completely leave this region in winter, but they do leave my haunts at Montrose Point. They also were plentiful on my ride to and from Springfield.

On March 3, I heard a killdeer flying around at the workplace on the Southwest Side; that same week a house finch was singing in our alley for the first time in months. Then this weekend produced a couple of spring-like scenes--turkey vultures soaring over the road to Lockport, and common goldeneyes displaying at Montrose Harbor. There also seems to be a great movement of raptors afoot--I've seen three peregrine falcons in the past two weeks.

Icterid paradise

A flock of red-winged blackbirds sparked a conversation on the Uptown Update blog recently. Approximately 150 red-wings appeared in Uptown in early April, according to the UU post. We’ve very rarely seen red-winged blackbirds on our block, but we did record our first of the season March 7 at Montrose Point (I also saw one at Calumet Park in January).

Several commenters noted that they had been attacked by red-wings. Attacks seem to happen quite frequently on the Chicago lakefront. (Time magazine covered this in 2008.) This is the time of year when nesting red-wings and grackles take over Montrose Point, posturing, puffing, posing and generally intimidating passersby.

Vernal journal

Spring hasn't really "sprung" here. Maybe inched a bit forward, but not sprung. The days are getting longer. The sunlight is shifting a little bit, sending more rays down our street in the morning. I saw a european starling hanging around a nesting site yesterday. The house sparrows seem to be chirping a little bit more loudly. There are reports of woodcocks as far north as DuPage County. And sandhill cranes and red-winged blackbirds are in the area, too.

It seemed like everyone was outside today, relishing the mere 45 degree temperatures. The sun seems to be especially bright, but after weeks of overcast that is to be expected. We're in our seventh-longest historical stretch without a 50-degree temperature (last one was Dec. 1). But we are indeed in meteorological spring, which started on March 1.