My eager excitement for spring continues to grow as I’m seeing more and more signs that it really will come after what felt like a very long, cold winter.
For one, I know that the first hummingbird migrants have reached the Gulf Coast. And while it will still be several weeks until I see them in my own wildlife garden, just knowing that they are on the move is making me incredibly happy!
While I’m waiting for them I’ll make sure that my feeders are clean and ready to go, and I’ll get my bird houses ready for spring nesting, too. I guess I’m a real geek when it comes to birds, because I always take a careful look at the old nests to discover whose nest it was. I’m often surprised to learn that birds have nested without my knowing of it.
I will take pleasure (and try not to be jealous!) that my friend Loret already has several eggs in her Bluebird box. She lives in Florida where spring is much more evident than it is here in my Pennsylvania wildlife garden.
There are some cleanup chores to be done in the spring wildlife garden, but most of them are fun and can be filled with exciting discoveries, which may lead to the dance of the over-excited gardener.
This year I’d like to add a lot more early spring bloomers to attract bees and other pollinators to my garden. Early spring is a time when very little is blooming, so I want to put out the word that my wildlife habitat garden is a good place to visit and also to hang around for the rest of the season.
What signs of spring are you seeing in your wildlife garden?
Carole Brown gardens in Philadelphia, zone 6b, and writes at Ecosystem Gardening, teaching you to garden sustainably, conserve natural resources, and create welcoming habitat for wildlife so that you will attract more birds, butterflies, pollinators and other wildlife. Watch for her book, Ecosystem Gardening coming out soon. She is also the Northeast Regional Reporter for the new Birds and Blooms blog, and you can follow @CB4wildlife on twitter.
© 2011, Carole Sevilla Brown. All rights reserved. This article is the property of BeautifulWildlifeGarden.com If you are reading this at another site, please report that to us
About Carole Sevilla Brown
Carole, thanks for the reminder that spring is a’comin! Our only signs in New England at the moment are the fact that the current precip is rain and not snow, and the snow levels on our patio dropped from 24″ down to 18″ since last week!!
But hearing that the first ruby-throat migrants have crossed the Gulf and are heading north, that makes me sooo happy and I know in a month or two they’ll be back here looking in the usual places for their nectar feeders 
Patience, Carole, Patience! HA!
Tally of eggs is 5 as of Friday and still the same today so that seems to be this broods number. We had two cooler WINDY days, and mom was keeping those eggs warm most of the day, so perhaps incubation has started as well.
Pushing warm weather and thots your way!
Loret
Loret T. Setters recently posted..The Awakening – Giant Swallowtail
I’m in Texas and our Mexican plum (Prunus mexicana) and red bud (Cercis canadensis) trees are now in full bloom. The bluebirds are checking out my nest box. Spring is definitely here!
Less than two weeks and spring will be official.. I’m ready! I always look forward to the first hummingbirds of the season. Last year I made feeders out of wine bottles, they turned out great and I thought I had created something new–until I googled it… I guess it’s hard to have an original idea because there are a lot of wine bottle feeders available on the internet! Even if my recycled/re-purposed feeders feeders aren’t unique, the birds enjoyed them!
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