A Pine Warbler’s Song
January ended with a Pine Warbler’s song.
Always one of the first signs of spring here, Pine Warblers usually start to sing in mid or even early January, and their lyrical trills are welcome, colorful music in the darkest days of winter. This year they seemed to wait a little later, maybe because the month has been particularly cold, with an unusual heavy snow in the early part that stayed for more than a week, and the rest often rainy, gray and chill. Or maybe it’s been my own dark and somber mood and not the weather. I really don’t know for sure. But I first heard one sing early in the morning on January 28, and – as usual – they’ve been singing every day since then, often in the pines just outside my office windows. Enough to lift the lowest winter spirits.