This year, the Vernal Equinox will be on March 20th at 5:25 PM EDT, marking the exact moment when the Sun crosses the celestial equator going south to north. It’s considered the astronomical beginning of the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere, but here in the Georgia Lowcountry, our spring sprung weeks ago.
The canopy of live oaks in my backyard an hour before sunset
We don’t need a groundhog to tell us this — we just look at the pollen. And by Valentine’s Day, the yellow stuff is usually everywhere, even if Mother Nature may still have a cold snap in her pocket. We call those chilly March and April days “blackberry winter,” and get in one last cup of hot cocoa before the broil of summer begins.
Savannah spring is a jubilation of color and scent and sound. Azaleas and dogwood and jasmine bloom flagrantly under the live oaks. This is our true “fall” as the dead brown leaves are pushed off the branches by fresh new growth, for live oaks are never bare, but they do shed.
Just 97 seconds in my backyard as documented by my Merlin Bird ID app.
And the birds! It’s a cacaphony out there every morning. Savannah is an important stop on the migratory path of many songbirds winging their way north, and my backyard is filled with visitors I’ll likely not see for another six months. The crows will be here 24/7, though, demanding their breakfast. To them I am simply a slightly daft servant who needs loud and frequent reminders that the peanut dish isn’t gonna fill itself.
Check out the different songs my Merlin Bird ID app caught in just a little over a minute: wrens and cardinals and grackles and doves, even a cedar waxwing and a yellow-rumped warbler, two birds I couldn’t see but could certainly hear (I eventually spotted the waxwing in the woodpile, but the warbler remained camouflaged).
If you’d like to get the Merlin app yourself, it’s free. You can learn more about it at the Cornell University Ornithology Lab website: https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/
I hope your spring is filled with boisterous joy and sweet surprises. May it be bountiful.