I taught a full day of birding and birds for spring break vacation today at Aldo Leopold Nature Center and walked past this view of the prairie several times. Winter has come and gone since I began this project and now the land seems poised to begin growing once again (rain would help). As I watch winter turn to spring, I am noticing that it happens in fits and starts, beginning in February, picking up some speed with the thaw, but then slowly accumulating, like two extra minutes of sunshine a day flowing into the burned prairie soil. In March we saw a week of single digit temperatures, two weeks of warm and sun, then last week was chillier. What we did not see was much rain (about a third of the average March precipitation). Green up has of late become my favorite event of the year and it feels like time is almost right for it to happen. But I believe that it too will take a few weeks to unfurl and then plants will continue to grow and flower in waves all the way through summer and into fall. Nature's pageant is truly a year round experience, with the sun giving cues and the players watching closely.
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