The snow keeps piling up, but I can detect cracks forming in winter’s icy grip. When I step outside it just feels different. And it sounds different too.
There comes a time in late February or early March when the birds finally decide they’ve had enough of winter and begin practicing their breeding songs. The cardinals have been doing it for a couple of weeks now. They are so loud and exuberant at times that I can hear them from inside the house.
The snowflakes may fly, but they still sit in the tops of the trees whistling and trilling with a “sticks-and-stones” attitude (snow all you want, spring is STILL going to arrive soon).
It’s actually the increase in daylight that pushes the birds into action, but I like to think we share a common bond in our disdain for a winter that just won’t end.