This has been a strange winter. In South Carolina, we had extreme cold weather for days, and then the temperature would jump to 70 degrees. And let’s not talk about the rain, flooding and “King Tides” we’ve experienced! If you follow us on social media @seabrookislandbirders, you may have seen the photos and videos of the Eastern Bluebird nest box in my backyard. Only two of the four eggs hatched, but did so 28 days earlier than in 2023! Wow!
Back in my home state of Maine, it has also been a warmer winter on average with much less snow. In fact recently, they too have had lots of rain, and I predict “mud season” will be at least a month early followed by the black flies!
This being a leap year, I knew spring would come early! Normally spring starts on March 20 or 21, but this year it will start on March 19, 2024. Check out this article, written by my Maine birding friend, Bob Duchesne, for the Bangor Daily News. I guess Punxsutawney Phil was right … it will be an early spring in 2024!
Submitted by: Nancy Brown