105 - The First Thing Every Animal Does When Spring Arrives

0:00What is the first thing every creature does in spring, that's what we're going to talk about today. Hi, this is Jill from the North Woods talking about nature right outside your front door. Well, I told you, I have spring fever and so we're going to talk a little bit about why March feels so different. It's not warm yet, it's not going to be safe from snow yet, feels different, energetic. We always kind of laugh that when you get to 50 degrees in spring time, it feels like a million bucks. Go for a hike. But 50 degrees in fall time, we're freezing, we're running for our hot cocoa, that kind of thing. March feels amazing. The light is shifting, we can actually feel the warmth of the sun and the air smells. Oh, you know wet humidity returns to the world and you just feel that spring energy. Here, you know, we might get like a little bit of a difference every day.

1:02The snow is still in shady spots, we just had two inches of snow yesterday, after having 50 degrees the week before that. And we're waiting, you know, we're waiting for that moment when spring is finally going to be here. I'm waiting for biking season, that's what I'm looking forward to this year. Every creature, though, has survived the winter, has one thing in common for that first day of spring. When they wake up, whether it comes out of their down, or if they were hibernating, they have one task. And that task will tell you about what it is that's important to them. The the thod critters out there, they're returning to action, they're stirring, and they're ready for spring just as bad as much as I am. So if we look at things like the wood frog, you don't know this probably, but a lot of times like the wood frogs and some of the frogs that we have, they free solid in winter, no heartbeat, no breathing, well, very small heartbeat and very small breathing, ice crystals in their body. And they survive because their liver floods their

2:05system with glucose, which is a natural antifreeze. The organs shrink so that it increases their ability to survive. And basically, we get frog sickles. I always love saying frog sickles, but that's what happens. And then the temperature starts to rise. The frog sickle flies, and the heart starts beating a little bit more, and the breathing goes up. It starts hopping around kind of the patches of snow towards what they call a vernal pond. We did a whole episode on vernal ponds, but you know, a little pond that just comes up from the melting snow. And this first task a lot of times is to, well, first of all, get a snack and then to breed almost immediately. The males arrive, begin calling, and they start quacking, you know, calling out in the woods. They're trying to to immediately reproduce the next generation of frogs out there. If you ever read the book, burned Heinrich's Winter World, there's another one called Summer World. You

3:08want to read these books. They're just incredible. Then you think about spring peepers. They're going to start coming. They're little tiny frogs that have big voices, and they also partially freeze over winter. The first thing that they do is they try to find water, and they try to mate in 42 degree rainy day. You probably, if you live anywhere like near a wetland or a lake or something, you'll hear those spring peepers calling in the woods. They're smaller than your thumb. They're little tiny guys. I keep trying to see them, but they're very tiny, but they're announcing spring is in the season, and they're looking for, they're looking for a date. If you look towards painted turtles, you kind of look towards like I said, the ponds. A lot of the turtles have been buried in mud all winter long, barely breathing through its skin. Their respiration kind of slowed down enough so they could stay buried in the mud this whole time. Sit still, and then what happens

4:08when spring comes? They climb up onto the log. They're trying to absorb as much sunlight as they can. They cannot even digest food early on. They can't even move efficiently. They need to warm up. And so when they warm up, they're just trying to see them. On the logs, they're poking their heads up. They need that solar energy because they're reptiles, and reptiles do not produce their own heat. Mammals produce their own heat. We're 96 something degrees. They have to get heat first, but spring to them is like, let's not take things too fast. The first thing on their on their list is to get warm. The next thing is if you see something like bears. We have black bears in the north of where I live, and black bears are starting to emerge. They don't sleep through the whole winter like we think of them to do. What they did is they have given birth during hibernation. And so they got fat right before fall, and their cubs are now feeding off of mom,

5:13us her milk. And so now she has to go out and find new food. She's been feeding her cubs during this hibernation period. Her own body is starting to wake up. She probably lost like 30% of her body weight, food is scarce. So she's going to be looking for berries. She's going to be looking for leftover nuts. She's going to be looking for carrion, dead animals. And it's not exciting, but she is looking. And spring is at a hopeful time where she's looking to put on some her body weight again. And now her cubs are able, capable, big enough where they can go outside with her. And she's going to start to teach them how to forage on their own. If you look at a groundhog, we have groundhogs day, right? And the males will emerge before the females. And what is their first task? They are looking to map their territory. They're looking to locate female burrows. And so when the females emerge a few weeks later, we're all ready to go again. So that's why that

6:18kind of came up with the males looking for a mate, not for their shadows. They're trying to find a girlfriend. The chipmunks, the true hibernators and all of this, they're the deep sleepers. They wake up on occasion. You know, if it gets like a 50 degree day, you might see them here and there. But they're spending their winter time hibernating. And then they go and look and they're done. And they have stores of seed. They've been eating out that all winter long. Their stores are starting to get empty. So their first task in spring is to pop out. Sort of look around. Is it safe? Did someone move into my neighborhood while I was out sleeping? Did anything change? And then they're going to go look for a snack. So I always love that first day of chipmunks being out and about looking for something to eat. And chances are, as I mentioned in the flower edition of this podcast, they're eating my friends tulips. The raccoons, they don't fully hibernate, but they do go into a deep winter rest.

7:22And so their first task is foraging. They're looking for a snack. And they remember where the food was from the previous year. They understand the backyard organization. They know where there were leaf piles. They have a mental map already there. So they're going to start looking for some of the foods. Like I said, some of the nuts that got dropped and not eaten yet, not rotted yet. Some of the berries that are out there. Maybe there's a good garbage can, you know, that we can do. So they're they're going to be hungry more than anything. The birds. Now there are some birds. There's a couple of different kinds of birds, right? They're the birds that stayed here all year long. They're eating the berries. They're eating even still bugs that are in the trees. We saw out hiking. What is called a brown creeper. They're so adorable. They're little tiny birds. They're pecking on the trees. There's bugs just under the layers of the bark, even now while it's still mostly still winter. But then we have some birds that are thousands of miles away. We have

8:27redwing blackbirds. We have some of the sparrows. We have some of the ducks. But anyway, the redwing blackbirds are one of the earliest migrants that come back into my neck of the woods. Oftentimes in February where there's still snow on the ground, the males start to come first. My friend yesterday saw her first redwing blackbird. And what do they do? They start to sing. They start to declare their territory over this part of the marsh. They're announcing, this is my spot, don't you come in. And when you start hearing their call, it's the sound of spring, right? And my friend, like I said, she saw her first redwing blackbirds on her bird feeder and they are back in town. The robins, they never left. Some are most overwintered, but they primarily went into the woods because that's where all the food is. But now, you know, the soil is starting to melt a little bit. Can they find some worms? Can they find some leftover

9:31berries? And so you'll see the robins come from the deep woods to come back out into like the populated areas. The soil temperature is still not quite yet thought, but it's starting to get there. And they're ready for action. Sandhill cranes, they are starting to fly back into this part of the woods. They return to the same wetlands year after year. And what's their first task? They reconnect. They have a rattling call and an elaborate dance. They're trying to meet a babe. And so they try to get to their bonds that they had previous years. And like I said, it's a dance. It's a call. And so it's one of the most exciting things. We have one of the largest sandhill populations in the eastern United States. It's a it's a conservation success story. And they are starting to creep in. The other day I was lying in bed. And all of a sudden I heard a call and I'm like, what was that? You know what? Sandhill cranes back in town again. I'm so excited. The bumblebees, I mentioned it a few episodes

10:36ago. They spent the she spent the winters underground alone. And she emerges as the the entirety of the colony. And her first task is to find food. And the next one is to find a nest. And then the third task is to lay eggs and incubate them with her own body heat. So she acts as an architect and a forager and a nurse and a furnace to her young. What's fun is when I go camping in the spring, you'll see the bumblebees sort of buzzing around really close to the ground. And they're looking for something. And my friend while I was camping with her, you know, asked, well, what is this be looking for? You know, is it food? You know, some traditional flowers down there. And what they're looking for is a hole that she can build her nest. And oftentimes what happens, particularly when you're at a campground area, is they might have found a really good hole. And people keep putting their tents over the hole. So it's not going to be a good hole for them to reproduce in. They got to look somewhere else because there's going to

11:42be a lot of tents right over this spot. So if you see one big slow bumblebee in early spring, you know what she's doing? She's looking for a den. She's looking for food. And she's looking for her next generation of bumblebees. Really incredible. You'll start seeing moss and butterflies. Looking around, they're tucked into the barks of trees. And what they start doing when they start coming out, the ones that overwinter, is they're looking for tree sap and rotting fruit. They don't need flowers. They're not going to be flowers for a little bit. So they're looking to survive on different kinds of fuel. So you can see all of these different patterns that nobody just eases into spring, right? There's no stretch, you know, kind of thing. They're beginning to work right away. Whether they're looking for their next snack, whether they're looking for their next home, whether they're looking for their next girlfriend or boyfriend. Usually like so the boys

12:44arrive early and look for a girlfriend. The redwing blackbirds isn't going to wait for a nicer weather. The robins sometimes come when it still snows afterwards. I remember when I ran out to get mealworms to put in my bird feeders because the robins came out early and then we had a huge snowstormer. They couldn't get to the ground. No worms, ground frozen, worms dormant. And so the robins were struggling and having a hard time. And so a lot of us went out and got blueberries and mealworms to put them in our bird feeders to help the robins survive this late snow. But everything is active. Every creature needs to act. And they need to act as soon as possible. They need to find, like I said, find a new home, find a new flower, eat a new worm. And essentially everything shifts right now at this particular time. So again, like I said, keeping your backyard messy, having compost piles will help a lot of these early go getters stay healthy in this time

13:50of year. One of the things that you'll notice is that if you get like some rain, you know, like a 40 degree night in rain, you maybe live near a marsher woodlands. You'll start hearing new sounds, whether it's a new bird that came into your neck of the woods, whether it's the frogs that are looking for a girlfriend. You want to look near sunny windows. You might see new bugs and new birds outside of there. Or if you have a little pond, you might start seeing those painted turtles trying to warm up on a log. Write it down on them. Check out to see where you do it. And my friend, she keeps a log. When was the first time she saw Red Wing Blackbird every year? You know, it's her first indicator of spring. When was that first time you saw that bumblebee queen looking for a home? When was that first time you heard a spring peeper peepen? So I hope you enjoy that. And if you're looking for more books, like I mentioned before, Winter World by Bert Heinrich

14:53is my absolute favorite. Just such a great book and a look at what actually happens in winter to animals and then what happens in spring. And then Summer World is when we're in the heat of the summer. It's really fascinating. Anyway, I appreciate you being out there. Hopefully you're getting excited for spring just like I am. You can email me at Jill at startwithsmallstefs.com. And tell me what it is you're seeing happen right outside your front door. I appreciate you being out there. And you can remember that I have Jill from the Northwoods.com has all my podcasts on it. So make sure yeah, get out there and go listen carefully. Something's going on out there.