Birds, wildflowers and more will arrive in March

Watching a Townsend’s solitaire drinking at the birdbath I keep warm all winter, I got to wondering when would be the first day I no longer see it or hear it.

Solitaires are in the same songbird family as — hence relatives of — bluebirds, American robin and thrushes. They are about the size and physique of a mountain bluebird but sport an all-gray plumage with white outer tail feathers and a dull orange bar on each wing.

They spend summers nesting in mountain forests then descend to lower elevations where junipers proliferate. They eat a lot of juniper cones during the winter!

Junipers now comprise a significant portion of the ornamental yard trees in residential neighborhoods, so solitaires now routinely overwinter with us.

I heard this one call almost daily for three weeks before I finally saw it, and that was back in November. Listening and watching for it have become parts of my daily routine, and I haven’t missed it for the last three months — yes, even in February! That perspective of thinking about when would be the first day I did not encounter it got me thinking about the character of March. It is a month loaded with firsts.

The first day of spring is the most obvious of the many firsts. But as the month progresses, other firsts appear.

March is typically the month when we see the first mountain bluebirds and Say’s phoebes of the year. Most of them are just passing through in migration, but some stay. The main summer population for both bluebird and phoebe will arrive mostly in April.

March is usually when we see the first molting of American goldfinches. They molt in autumn replacing their bright yellow plumage with a graygreen-brown plumage. They molt again in spring replacing the dull plumage with their bright yellow. Being a gradual process, the molt makes them look polka-dotted and then blotchy before it’s complete.

So, when will be the first day I get to see a yellow polka-dotted goldfinch?

Not every year but a few now and then, sandhill cranes fly overhead in March. They are more predictable in April, but knowing they can migrate through in late March makes listening for them and watching for them a pleasant aspect of my daily walks.

Some years, I hear my first striped chorus-frogs chirping in March; and most years, I see my first nightcrawlers in March.

A few wildflowers bloom in March. Not many, but a few.

Filaree, in the geranium family, and dandelions are fairly predictable. Pasqueflower and sagebrush buttercup, both in the buttercup family, are less predictable. Some years they bloom in March; some years they don’t bloom until April.

So, when will be the first day I see wildflowers in bloom? And which wildflowers will they be?

Silver maples always bloom in March. Their flowers are small, not at all showy and way up above ground on the branchlets and twiggery of the tree. Still, they are flowers. Some years the weather coaxes them out as early as February, but they are always in bloom by March.

Such wandering through the memories of experiences past sharpen my expectations of discovery and help keep me alert when I’m afield, even if that’s only in my neighborhood.

I know my wondering has clicked up a notch or two when I start wondering which of all the firsts in March will be the first one I encounter this year!