I saw a couple of things over the weekend which could just perhaps signal that we might be in for an early spring. Read on and see what you think!

I know you’re going to think I’m out of my mind and we certainly do have a lot of winter to go before it’s over. But I saw a couple of things over the weekend that made me think we might be in for a break.

On my way home from the studio on Friday afternoon I saw two robins in my neighborhood. While it’s true that some robins spend the entire winter in Michigan, most of them migrate south for warmer weather. As you may know, I love birds and wildlife and keep a pretty close watch on the neighborhood. I highly suspect that these two robins are new visitors, perhaps up from the south. I don’t know but seeing any robins in my neighborhood at this time of the year is rare. In fact this is the first time it has happened.

By the way, the Robin is Michigan’s official state bird although some want another bird chosen because most robins are not year round visitors.

The second curious sign are the house finches. In spring, the males turn a very purple/red color to strut their stuff for their bird girlfriends during mating season. Some males are starting to turn redder and redder. And there’s actually a third interesting sign. We have a ton of eastern gray squirrels in our neighborhood and they are chasing each other up and down trees just like it was mating season, which usually begins in mid-March.

Once the juncos leave my bird feeder I’ll know the snow is over. Juncos are also known as “snow birds” because they nearly always show up just before the first snowfall of the season and leave just after the final snow falls!

Early spring or not, one thing’s for sure. This is the least amount of snow I’ve ever seen in Michigan for this long into winter. Heck, when the season started my windshield fluid container in the car was only about a third full and I’ve still got some left. Last winter I went through nearly three bottles of that blue stuff!

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• Snowstorm – More Bark Than Bite
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• I Measure Winter By Blue Liquid Bottles
• Video: James Taylor Makes A Snowman
• Blizzard Is Blitzing!
• If You Get Stuck In The Snow In Your Car
• Juncos – They’re Baaaack!