Chuck Tague

The Vernal Equinox occurs on March 20 at 7:44 a.m.

    On March 17, the sun will set more than twelve hours later than it rose (12 hours; 1 minutes).  For the first time since last September, our days will be longer than our nights.  It’s not just the Irish that will be wearing the green – the first grasses will show signs of photosynthesis.  The early annuals and perennials in wetlands, forest floors and disturbed fields will germinate.  If you look hard, you might find flowers in bloom: Coltsfoot, Whitlow Grass, Asiatic Bittercress and Spring Beauty.  Look though the leaf litter for the beauties.  Lift some leaves in a well-drained, south-facing slope.  If you’re impatient for spring, go after it.

    Now is the time to search for Snow Trillium.   An excellent site is Cedar Creek Gorge in Westmoreland County.  Cedar Creek County Park is off Route 51, one mile south of I-70.

Harbinger-of-Spring

    Other flowers that might bloom on the Vernal Equinox are Harbinger-of-Spring, hepaticas, Purple Cress, Common Blue Violets and Smooth Yellow Violets.

    The catkins of American Hazelnut should be dangling and laden with pollen on the first of spring.  Give one a shake and watch the yellow cloud dissipate.  Look for

the red, brush-like female

flowers on the end of the twig.

    This weekend the weather will be warm for the season and the sun will shine!  The early amphibians will be active. Listen for Spring Peepers.  Try to find them with a flashlight after dark.  If you want to hear the peepers at full volume, approach a noisy pool with a friend.  The frogs will stop as you near, but get as close as you can. 

Stay by the pool for a minute or two.  When you leave, the frogs will resume.  Your companion will get the full peeper experience.

     Wood Frogs will gather in vernal pools.  Read about my Wood Frog encounter in the Nature Observer Journal.  Listen to calling Wood Frogs on the Frogs & Toads of Georgia site.

    Check out woodland pools for mating Spotted Salamanders after dark.

    Change happens fasts in mid March: sometimes too fast for my enjoyment, although too slow for my expectations.  As a naturalist in absentia (exiled to Florida), I must rely on old field notes for the next month.   I return to Pennsylvania in April.

     On March 3, 1995 I spotted several male Red-winged Blackbirds along I-79.  Just before dawn, an American Robin sang his rolling, melodious song in the sycamore trees outside my house.  That evening, I heard the whirring wings of a courting woodcock as he performed his spectacular aerial display in Moraine State Park.  The earliest spring migrants returned to western Pennsylvania.

    Their journeys are often long, filled with hardships and dangers.  Most migrants don’t arrive in western Pennsylvania until the days are longer and the temperature warmer, timing their arrival with some key resource, such as caterpillars that feed on newly emerging leaves.  The first rugged birds to return, however, often find snow, ice and frozen soil.  Survival for these birds is difficult and the conditions favorable to nest building and incubation are several weeks away.

    Early migration is risky indeed.  On March 13, 1993, 23.6 inches of snow fell in Pittsburgh, the highest one-day total ever recorded at the airport.

    Not all birds migrate.  A few tough it out and remain north all winter.  Some of the largest of these nest incredibly early, in the coldest weather.  When the robins, blackbirds, bluebirds, grackles and other early migrants return, these tough old birds are already on the nest.  By the first days of March, the Bald Eagles have constructed their nest and Great Horned Owls’ young have hatched.  Great Blue Herons are staking their claims at heronries.  The female Peregrine Falcon at the Gulf Tower, Downtown Pittsburgh, laid her first egg on March 12 this year.  The University of Pittsburgh Peregrines should have eggs soon.  Follow the falcons on Kate St. John’s great blog and the National Aviary’s webcam.  Common Ravens are sitting on eggs.  Read more about raven nests in yesterday’s Nature Observer Journal.

    Not all the birds that nest in mid March are large carnivores like eagles, owls and herons.  In the city Rock Pigeons and House Sparrows have nests.  In the suburbs some Mourning Doves have eggs.  There’s also breeding activity in cornfields and reclaimed strip mines.  From the Nature Observer, March 1995:

   Horned Larks are the only true larks native to North America. Worldwide there are 76 species of larks, most in Europe and Asia, where they are well known for their song and courtship flights.  Like most larks, our Horned Lark inhabits open fields and prairies, and prefers a habitat with as little vegetation as possible.  The first native songbirds to breed each year in western Pennsylvania, look for them in old strip mines and in agricultural areas, particularly in corn stubble. 

    The larks that breed on the tundra and in the northern prairies migrate and sometimes pass through Pennsylvania.  However, the birds in our area remain here all winter.  The males begin defending territory in late February or early March.  Females begin to nest shortly after.  Snow, up to two or three inches deep, often covers the nest with no harm to the eggs they contain.

    The spectacular courtship and territorial flights of the Horned Lark are underway.  They are initiated by two consecutive days when the mean temperature is above 40 degrees Fahrenheit.  The lark’s tinkling song and devil-may-care aerobatics may be just what we need to change cabin fever to spring fever.

  Look for these migrants in the next week or two: Common Snipe, Fox Sparrows, Rusty Blackbirds, Winter Wren, Belted Kingfisher.

    On the water look for Common Loons, Double-crested Cormorants and more Horned Grebes.  Gulls, including Bonaparte’s Gulls, will increase.  Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs should arrive by the end of the month.  Killdeer numbers will continue to grow.

    The first wave of the breeding songbirds is here. 

Look for Eastern Phoebes, Tree Swallows, Eastern Meadowlarks, Eastern Bluebirds, more male Red-winged Blackbirds and Brown-headed Cowbirds.  American Woodcock are displaying.  Get out and enjoy the performance.

    In the mountains, Golden Eagles continue to move north.  Ice is melting fast.  The best show right now is in the wetlands, along the river, in the lakes.  Waterfowl are on the move.  There’s still time to see Tundra Swans.  It’s another good year to find Red-necked Grebe in western Pennsylvania.  Duck migration will peak in the next week or two.

    Impatient for the first hummingbird?  Curious where the hummers are?  Follow the Ruby-throats migration at hummingbird.net.

   Skunks are out and busy.  Look for the first groundhog.  Hopefully, it won’t be a roadkill.

    The news of the spread of White-nose Syndrome is very disturbing.  This fungus is infecting winter bat colonies throughout the northeastern United States.  It showed up in northeast Pennsylvania in 2008 and has now spread to West Virginia and Virginia.  This disease is extremely deadly.  It forces bats to awake from their deep hibernation and leave the warmth of their shelter long before it’s time.  The future of bats that winter in caves is uncertain.  To learn more about White-nose Syndrome, or to report a dead bat, go to the Pennsylvania Game Commission website.

    Tired of the cold?  The normal low temperature goes above freezing on March 25, but we can expect frost for several weeks after that.  Here’s a list of the average last frost date for various parts of western Pennsylvania:

Donora, April 18

Confluence, April 29

Franklin, May 13

Butler, May 18

Corry, May 24

Brookville, May 25

    Expect the next phenology before April.  By then the Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers will be in town.  No kidding.