Now we have April, one of my two favorite months of the year, the other being October. April is the month of full bloom, songbirds in full voice and trees leafing out.
April in Georgia means:
-- Waves of warblers, tanagers, thrushes, buntings, grosbeaks and other colorful songbirds arriving from the tropics for spring nesting.
-- The beloved ruby-throated hummingbirds returning. Some are already here. “A male ruby-throat arrived at our feeders in Carrollton on March 23," Stanley Tate said. “Earliest we have ever had one.”
-- Our year-round birds -- cardinals, blue jays, bluebirds, titmice, Carolina chickadees, robins, American goldfinches and others -- sporting their bright, spiffy breeding plumage. Except for the goldfinch, which nests in midsummer, most of the birds commence nest building this month. Bluebird nestlings, though, already may be extending eager beaks in nesting boxes.
-- The “dawn chorus” revs up. By month's end, as many as 30 songbird species will be singing their hearts out as the sun comes up.
-- The birds that overwintered here -- cedar waxwings, yellow-rumped warblers, hermit thrushes, sapsuckers, common loons, several sparrow species and duck species -- depart for nesting grounds up North.
-- Whip-poor-wills and their close cousins chuck-will’s-widows begin calling from the woods. Their plaintive calls are the essence of Southern spring nights.
-- Peak breeding time for Eastern screech owls, wood ducks and bobwhite quail; late in the month wild turkey hens cautiously move about with newly hatched poults.
-- Breeding time for several reptiles, including green anoles, common snapping turtles, spiny shell turtles and some common nonvenomous snakes, including rat snakes, eastern hognose snakes and corn snakes. The venomous copperhead also breeds in April.
-- Loggerhead sea turtles begin crawling up on barrier island beaches to lay eggs.
-- Bobtail kittens and the babies of minks and river otters are born. Bottlenose dolphins breed in coastal waters. Endangered right whales, Georgia's state marine mammals, are migrating to Northern summer feeding grounds.
-- In the Okefenokee Swamp, alligators start moving about -- and bellowing -- as they seek mates and new territories.
-- Dogwoods are in lush bloom, casting a bridal-veil whiteness throughout the woods and neighborhoods. Numerous wildflowers bloom, including pink ladyslipper, umbrella leaf, giant chickweed, bloodroot, blazing star, blackberry, foam flower, showy orchid, Virginia bluebell, mayapple, Indian paintbrush and most of the native trillium species.
-- More shades of green than one can imagine as trees don their new foliage.
In the sky: The moon will be new on Sunday. By Monday evening, look for a thin crescent low in the west, said David Dundee, astronomer with Tellus Science Museum. Venus rises out of the east about three hours before sunrise. Saturn rises out of the east at dark and is visible throughout the night. Mercury, Mars and Jupiter can't be easily seen now.
