Confused?
Me, too!
As are the birds and flowers and trees and weather.
After maybe (?) two weeks of real winter in January, we’ve mostly felt like spring.
A big tom turkey, puffed out in full strut, along with a smaller rival, posed for my trail camera on February 12. Kinda early – although my journal includes a 2002 entry that turkeys were gobbling on February 17. Love-struck gobblers apparently pay more attention to their hormones than to the calendar or weather.
Little flecks of green are emerging even in the shady woods. Gooseberry leaves are starting to unfurl, a month earlier than normal. Our garden rhubarb is sending up shoots, making my mouth water for rhubarb crisp – which we usually don’t have until late April
In the flower bed, daffodils already have poked up nearly six inches, with a few buds starting to form. With an afternoon gentle rain shower (only 4/10 of an inch – but we’ll take anything we can get!) plus the forecast of above average temperatures in the next few days, we’ll be watching for blossoms.
Canada geese have paired up on the wetlands for a couple of weeks. But are they still pondering whether it’s too early to lay eggs?
Bluebirds hung around most of the so-called winter – and I’ve cleaned the deer mouse nests out of their houses. A sunny morning has the gentle birds all atwitter – but they also may be hesitant to start their 2024 families this soon.
Bald eagles aren’t so cautious, though. Right on schedule, many birds already are sitting on eggs in nests all over Iowa. You can spy on them here via eagle cameras hosted by the Raptor Resource Project, https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/
Pushed by blustery south winds and record-high 75-degrees temperatures, 2 turkey vultures soared over our house on March 3 – another record-early arrival.
Among our dozens of goldfinches, a few males sport subtle patches of summer-yellow on their shoulder, head, and throat. Of course, that change to breeding plumage probably is triggered more by photoperiod than temperature. Balmy weather didn’t fool the purple finches and juncos, who have lingered as they generally do, waiting perhaps another month to head back north when the sun angle tells them to.
The roar of my neighbor’s tractor from down in the river valley confirms that some farmers are impatient to get going on spring field work. In March, you might wonder? Sure, my Dad hoped to have the oats seeded in March – but he figured tillage and planting could wait another month.
Those decades ago, Dad waited because that’s what HIS dad had done. Now, some progressive farmers wait in order to give their cover crops more time to grow, thus keeping live roots in the ground to prevent erosion, control weeds, and build organic matter
My master gardener wife, Margaret, admits to being a wee bit impatient, too. The broccoli seeds she started under the grow lights already have sprouted. Far be it from me – a green veggie fan – to argue with her!
Our REC bill for February put a monetary benefit on the crazy-warm February. With the sun streaming in our south windows, the furnace hardly ran at all. And when the January snows melted off our solar panels, we could generate much of our own power. The monthly electric bill was less than half of what we paid for January.
What’s to come? A four-letter word, I’d wager. SNOW! I’ve hunted turkeys in an April blizzard and photographed spring wildflowers that were covered by six inches of “chance of scattered flurries.” Climate change or not, I’m leaving the blade and tire chains on my tractor – just in case I need to plow us out again. Although I hesitate to break out the old cliché, we’ve gotta recognize that “this is Iowa
As a life-long Iowan, former outdoor writer/photographer for the Des Moines Register, and semi-retired freelancer and speaker on conservation, I’m privileged to be a member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. About 50 communicators share our observations on mostly Iowa issues. The posts usually are free - but please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help support what sometimes is a labor of love for many of us. Check out the work of my talented friends and colleagues!
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Roster
Nicole Baart: This Stays Here, Sioux Center
Ray Young Bear: From Red Earth Drive, Meskwaki Settlement
Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights
Tory Brecht: Brecht’s Beat, Quad Cities
Dartanyan Brown, My Integrated Life, Des Moines
Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll
Jane Burns: The Crossover, Des Moines
Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, Roundup
Steph Copley: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston
Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake
Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley
Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County
Daniel Finney, Paragraph Stacker, Des Moines
Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts, Okoboji and Sioux Falls
Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji
Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames
Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines
Rob Gray: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny
Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa
Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilia
Dana James: Black Iowa News, Iowa
Chris Jones, Chris’s Substack, Iowa City
Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo
Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames
Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey
Letters from Iowans, Iowa
Darcy Maulsby: Keepin’ It Rural, Calhoun County
Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa
Alison McGaughey, The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities
Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar
Vicki Minor, Relatively Minor, Winterset
Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines
Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids
Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines
Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines
John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines
Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines
Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.
Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines
Steve Semken, The Pulse of a Heartland Publisher, North Liberty
Macey Shofroth: The Midwest Creative, Norwalk
Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona
Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County
Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport
Jason Walsmith, The Racontourist, Earlham
Kali White VanBaale, 988: Mental Healthcare in Iowa, Bondurant
Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines
We want to hear from YOU! Please consider submitting a Letter by using this form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd_uL6kP6A00CaorEzZYs7T68uLUEDZaDIUAs9IVzVWtyCpNQ/viewform
Yes, Andrea, I agree. Or as Gladys Black liked to say, BUZZARDS!
I saw a Turkey Vulture on March 3 as well! Haven't seen once since.