THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16.1B78

I know' that mtd-Frtruary is a most unlikely time to broach the subject. The mercury is hovering around 5 degrees (I think it's frozen there) the salt marsh is closed up as tight as a bank on a two bit holiday ... and you’re not going to believe it anyway but,

it's Spring!

No, pot the Spring of, the English poets with daffodils and

daisies. It's a more subtle Spring perhaps just the wakening shade of Spring. I start looking for the signs soon after the bills start rolling in during January. Rtey are actually very obvious once you know what to look for and

when to look for it. „

The first harbingers of the up and coming season are the Great Horned Owls pairing off in midJanuary. Great Horneds are a not-too-terribly-obvious denizen of Cape May County. They are nevertheless relatively common and during January and February often heard (if only rarely seen). The Great Horned sets up a territory, selects a nest (often an old Red-tailed Hawk nest), lays 2 or 3 round, white eggs and starts to brood. The pair of Great Horned’s that live across the street frym my domicile in Swaihton called feverishly through the month of January and just stopped their nocturnal tirade these past few days. I suspect that the female is on eggs now and does not care to call attention to herself or the nest. At the backyard feeding stations there is change in the air.

The male cardinal that used to drive the female away while he was feeding has suddenly suffered a change of heart ... or hormones.The lengthening hours of daylight trigger a number of physiological changes in birds. Among otb"r things, the gonads start sizzling. In the male cardinal, this is outwardly manifested in an uncommon display of good will toward his female counterpart. The once upon a winter bachelor can even be seen going out of his way just to be fear the female. Imagine that! There are other signs of spring in the avian world. ReH-tailed Hawks are courting now. The pair engage in spectacular aerial displays: soaring, stooping, rolling on their backs and sometimes tousling talons ih mid air. Mallards and Black Ducks can be seen “head tossing,” part of the courtship ritual. Just recently, Pintails began to appear among our wintering puddle ducks, he Pintail is generally the first duck north in the spring. On February 2,1 drove into the Wetlands Institute parking lot and noticed a Red-winged Blackbird perched in the top of one of the planted saplings. Something about the bird’s stance clued me in. There was something there that I had not seen since early days of summer. I stopped the car, rolled down the window, watched and waited. Sure enough the bird fanned its tail, spread its

• i ,n |- -.i ! .

glir Brralb NJ Nurses ^ To Meet Constituency Number 9 of the New Jersey State Nurses’ Association will hold a program meeting February 20.1979 at 8:00 p.m. in the Nursing Education Building at Atlantic Community College. The speaker will be Chris Swenson of Stockton State College who will discuss, “New Trends in Psychiatric Care”. All area nurses are invited to attend. Recognition points ere available to those attending.

Waldron To Speak At S.H. Chamber Chamber of Commerce president Glenn A. Townley announced that William H. Waldron HI, administrator at Burdette ^Tomlin Memorial Hospital will be the guest speaker at the February 19th dinner meeting at Hcnny's Restaurant. Mr. Waldron has held this position at the hospital for 3'/i years, after serving as administrator for 7 years at the J.C. Blair Hospital in Huntingdon, Pa.

wings, showing the bright red epaulets on the shoulder that give tM bird its name and called: ”tur-a-leee." He did it once more just for emphasis, "tur-a-lee.” The ice didn’t vanish and it snowed several days later but you can’t offer much argument against "tur-a’lee.” ”Tur-a-lee” is not a winter sound.

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