This writer is declaring that spring has arrived! The signs are everywhere and there is certainly a strong desire to turn the page on winter and the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last Friday, a big step towards normalcy occurred when a packed room at Gardner’s Colonial Hotel attended the Nashua River Chapter of Ducks Unlimited fundraising dinner, raffles and auction. The chapter pulled out all the stops and offered a great evening for everyone, young and old, first-time attendee to veterans of years of DU fundraisers, male or female, die-hard duck hunter, occasional visitor to the marshes or conservationist of every style and cut. The many raffles and the well-balanced auction offered something for everyone.
This writer, a former Ducks Unlimited regional director for Massachusetts, had an especially enjoyable evening. First, it was great to get out to a social event again. No masks or other restrictions, just a fun night out with fellow supporters of wetland conservation. The message was evident across the room that the purpose was to spend money to support the work of America’s oldest and largest conservation organization. That was accomplished and the event raised more money than it ever had in the 30 years plus since Mike Donnelly and a few committee members put on the first Nashua River dinner. Mike has been a lifelong friend and our fathers, Ed Donnelly and John Roche, were hunting and fishing buddies and our families were often together in station wagons full of kids and dogs. The Nashua River Chapter was formed during my time as regional director.
Being able to connect with so many great DU people, including auctioneer Jay Beard, was invigorating and there were about a dozen folks that I had not seen in close to 30 years. That camaraderie, the outstanding meal and the fact that we are again able to get out and socialize and enjoy each other’s company really hit home.
This mild weather is also accelerating the feeling of spring. Migrating birds and waterfowl are now invading the region with ducks and geese in the air and showing up as wetlands slowly open, and our backyards are now alive with songbirds. Groups of robins seem to be everywhere, probing lawns for earthworms. Robins have generated a lot of chatter and a number of folks communicated to me about seeing robins during the winter months. It appears that a number of robins over-wintered. Although they feed heavily on earthworms, they do feed on winter fruit wherever they find it and crab apples and other trees are targeted when snow covers frozen ground. This relatively mild winter certainly favored the non-migrating migrants, and they seem to be thriving. Expect almost daily arrivals of birds over the next weeks.
Some interesting deer sightings have also been reported as loggers usually find concentrations of deer who hone in on the cut tops of timber harvesting as a fresh segway food until the green vegetation appears. I do not have to remind you that black bears are leaving the dens and they will find your bird feeders. Start taking them in to do yourself, and the bears, a favor. Tom turkeys are gobbling and the dispersal and move to different habitat types is underway. The males born last spring, called jakes, are beginning to sport short beards and they tend to leave the larger flocks and group together. My encounters with groups of jakes are usually entertaining, they are curious and often circle as a group when they are near flocks. Mature toms, called gobblers or longbeards, also tend to form small groups and they are creating a hierarchy and are displaying and gobbling although the hens are not yet ready to oblige.
For fishermen, the warm weather is creating opportunities for MassWildlife to get the stocking trucks rolling. Ice on local lakes and ponds is darkening and ice out is on the horizon. Time to get your tackle in order. Put away the auger and the tip-ups and get the rods untangled! Head out to replenish your tackle boxes and be ready because fishing season in Massachusetts is open all year round! You can go to the MassWildlife web site and get “real time” trout stocking info.
Laney is three weeks out of surgery for the removal of “foreign objects” and she is really progressing well. The post-op recommendation was to wait 30 days before resuming normal activity, but Laney only has two speeds, stop and full. Next week we may head out to a spring woodcock stopover and see what we find. Fourteen-year-old Dinah still favors her hind leg, and we will have to see if she gets to run. It is a short window from the time the flight birds arrive until local hens start nesting. As soon as there is a sign of nesting activity, the dog work stops.
Hopefully you will all be able to find plenty of things to get yourselves outdoors this spring. It is a fleeting season so get to it!
Mike Roche can be reached at mikeroche3@msn.com.