March is a time of great transition in Georgia, when spring quickly moves in even though winter still tries feebly to hang on. Over the next few weeks, you will see, hear and smell spring marching in as the landscape brightens with every shade of green. Here's some of what we can expect.
The first waves of spring migrants -- ruby-throated hummingbirds, warblers, tanagers, orioles, flycatchers -- will be coming in. Make sure your hummingbird feeder is up and filled with fresh nectar by April 1.
As the migrants arrive, many of our year-round songbirds -- cardinals, mockingbirds, robins, Carolina wrens, tufted titmice, Carolina chickadees -- already will be incubating eggs. Male birds will be decked out in their brilliant breeding plumage. Some changes will be dramatic. The feathers of male American goldfinches, for instance, will change from a drab greenish brown to neon-bright yellow.
By month's end, bird songs will fill the air at sunrise. On a sunny morning, 30 species or more may be heard in the "dawn chorus." Among them will be one of Georgia's most beautiful singers, the brown thrasher, our official state bird. A rival will be the migratory wood thrush; its ringing, flutelike ee-o-lay song "declares the immortal wealth and vigor that is in the forest," Henry David Thoreau said.
Great blue herons will perform their elaborate courtship displays and then gather in small rookeries to lay eggs in large stick nests in tall trees at the edges of lakes, ponds and streams. The plaintive calls of newly arrived whip-poor-wills and chuck-will’s-widows will emanate from woods at sunset. For wood ducks and red-shouldered and red-tailed hawks, it will be peak breeding time. You are apt to see a pair of red tails in the sky performing their acrobatic aerial courtships.
Great horned owls already are tending babies in nests; the young of bald eagles are fledging. Tom turkeys are strutting about in woodlands to attract mates, although some hen turkeys already are laying eggs.
White-tailed does are heavy with fawns that will be born in May and June. Litters of bobcats, possums, raccoons and armadillos are being born. Gray squirrels and flying squirrels already are tending new litters. Black bears are roaming, shrugging off winter’s torpor. On the coast, bottlenose dolphins are starting their breeding season.
Snakes and other reptiles are more active and likely to be seen now in yards and gardens. Spring peepers and several other frog and toad species are calling from wetlands. Tree frog species -- including Georgia’s official amphibian, the green tree frog -- are laying eggs, which hatch into tadpoles in about five days.
In the sky: The moon will be last quarter Wednesday, rising about midnight and setting around midday, said David Dundee, an astronomer with the Tellus Science Museum. Venus, shining brightly, and Jupiter are in the west just after dark and set about two hours later. They will appear close together Wednesday and Thursday nights. Mars rises out of the east a few hours before midnight. Saturn rises out of the east about midnight and will appear near the moon Saturday night.
