I walk in the woods when I can. They’re different from other places in my world. They’re old, rough, wild, natural. I used to think they were timeless. But I was wrong about that. They’re not timeless at all. How do I know? A little bird told me.

A Ruby-crowned Kinglet. The trees were full of these very small birds today. Might’ve been Golden-crowned Kinglets mixed in. I see them around this time of year, every year. Late March. Early April. Kinglet season. You can set your watch by it.

And the woods have Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers now. Some live around here, but many travel through, and we see them in early April.

The woods are not timeless. They’re a giant timepiece. Wildflowers are coming through dead leaves and patches of snow now. I don’t know their names, but they show up on cue.

And there’s that thrush, a Swainson’s Thrush. Every time I see one, and I see them this time of year, I figure I’d rather see a Wood Thrush, with its rust color and bolder spots. But we get Swainson’s Thrushes like clockwork.

In a few weeks warblers come through. The earliest can be seen any time now: Myrtle Warblers. I know their name’s been changed to something else (Yellow-rumped), but I like to resist the movement of time and the changing of names that goes with it.

In a few weeks we get the colorful birds, orioles, tanagers, buntings, grosbeaks. We’ll hear them, we’ll see them, we’ll stop wearing sweaters. We’ll be another year older.

That’s okay. It’s all okay. Older is wiser. But it wasn’t wise to think that the woods are a place where time would stand still. What a joke. They’re a big, breathing calendar and they rub your face in the passage of time. Might as well enjoy it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 at 12:40 pm and is filed under "Daily Sightings" A Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.