Friday, March 11, 2011

IT'S ON ITS WAY!/SE ACERCA!

This is how our balcony looked in the summer. I can't believe that it looked
like this. Just look at all this...this...this GREENESS!!!
I have never in my life missed seeing trees with exuberant foliage so ridiculously. Being a Tica I am used to seeing trees with exuberant foliage, but here in North America winter has been cruel on me.

It was certainly beautiful to watch the trees change color in the fall, and begin losing their leaves. The days got shorter, the trees went naked and I began to see my own breath every time I breathed. I had never seen or heard a single Northern flicker since, and the feeders began getting more and more crowded with birds. Winter was here, and soon snow would begin to fall.

But now I simply can't believe how much I miss seeing trees overwhelmed with green leaves. I drool on pictures of green forests filled with warblers, orioles, tanagers, vireos and many other birds. I just can't take it anymore. Tropical fish need coral reefs. Period.

But now, I feel like there is SOME hope that spring is on its way. About 3 weeks ago we had an entire 60º F week, with lots o' sunshine. The birds went NUTS! Titmice, chickadees, cardinals and mourning doves began to sing. Deer stepped out of their hiding places in the woods and let themselves be seen. I actually saw a pair of mourning doves mating. Uh huh!

Every single one of those glorious days I came back from school, grabbed my birding gear and went outside. Jesus, everything just woke up! Insects crawled under my feet, and I marveled when one of those days I had a very close encounter with a doe that was springing about the woods.

The doe, who approached me unafraid. She passed only one or two meters
away from me.
Yet, as all good things do, it only lasted for about 6 days, and on Saturday the party was ovah'. 40-30º degrees outside, and everything just crawled back to sleep (except the songbirds, they are still singing, fortunately!). Darn it.

But I knew there was still hope, that in one or two months it would be blooming and singing all over again. The grass has gotten greener, trees are filled with moss and one morning I found a House Finch perched on an oak tree, singing its lungs out. Carolina wrens have gotten into it, and Robins (American ones) have reappeared on the lawns.

Let's hope, let's hope Spring comes soon... Ticos like me die out in all this deadness/grayness/coldness/winterness.






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