BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Native American Spring has Sprung!

I love Spring time, but it always takes me a week or two to adjust to Daylight Savings Time. I have a hard time getting to sleep.

I also love my bird neighbors. We are blessed to have many. However, for the last two nights we've had a male singing his heart out for a mate at our carport. He's as loud as the TV and already at it again this morning. His song is beautiful for a few hours, but not for 6 straight, until 2am this morning. As I was trying to drift off in the wee hours, I was praying, "Grandfather, PLEASE send that boy a girl! I need some sleep."

We still have to wait until the 27th May before Daylight Saving Time starts in the UK. But we have spring! Cherry blossom and weeping willows are starting to pop out everywhere.

We have robins singing day and night in our gardens at the moment and the other day a beautiful blue tit sang me a lovely song.

My little rosy Bourkes have found a new spring song too.

I love spring because I love to watch the ducks, Sandhill Cranes, geese, swans, and other migratory birds settle in, many continue north to Alaska, Russia and beyond. We had taken a drive to a very rural area, I looked up, and it looked like the biggest crochet pattern I have ever seen, hundred of thousands - if not millions - of migratory birds forming this extraordinary pattern. It was beautiful.

Daylight savings time, keep it, never change it back again.

Diana, I'm jealous. Sandhill cranes winter in the Okeefenokee Swamp near us. About 2 years ago we took a boat tour on my birthday and I got to see my first one. We had planned to return in January when there are thousands, but got tied up helping on the Tribal Grounds. We were only 15 miles from the Swamp entrance, but couldn't make it for another tour.

My husband asked me the other day if the cranes might still be there. If you're already seeing them in SD, we'll have to wait until next year.

Knowing the migratory flocks are large this year fills me with joy! I need to put out my hummingbird feeders. The Chief was doing that this past Sunday at the Tribal Grounds.

The wild plum blossoms have already come and gone, but the beautiful purple wisteria buds are opening and it's smells great. My azaleas are loaded with buds this year. If we don't have another freeze before Easter, they will be full.

When I worked for the newspaper I was introduced to the Cosumnes River Preserve near Galt CA. Then we did some volunteer work with them. Which in turn got us involved with the Eisenberg Preserve Woodbridge CA. I even got to see the Demoiselle crane, never seen in the US before. I had so many incredible experiences at the preserves. Watching the cranes fly in from their feeding grounds back to the wetlands at the preserve at sunset, against Mt. Diablo was a glorious site. Those were some of the most special days of my life. We also did a lot of volunteer work for the McFarland Living History Ranch which gave us an opportunity to actually live on the preserve and all it's splendor. We were on the Pacific flyway there, here were on a secondary which feeds to a primary, so we still have some opportunity to see migratory birds, not so much the sandhill cranes though. Haven't seen any on the ground, just in formation.

Hearing the wood thrush, one of the most beautiful bird songs.. and the frogs/ spring peepers at the pond... now it feels like spring

Welcome vhawk! I'm not sure if we have wood thrushes around here. Need to check my field guide, but I also love the frog sounds. After a good rain when they are singing their little hearts out, we always comment "Happy Frogs."

The honeysuckle and star jasmine are in full bloom and their fragrance is intoxicating, and somewhat overpowering. We keep our house open until June and can't get away from the scent. But I always enjoy it, even when a little too strong.

As children we plucked the honeysuckle blossoms to suck the nectar from the bottom. I must confess to still doing this, it's a Rite of Spring.