My friend says that the new harbinger of spring in Northeast Ohio is the killdeer, not the robin. Not only is the robin passe', but it is increasingly apparent to birders that the robin is now spending most of its life here in Ohio and not migrating. The sound of the Killdeer, "killdeer, killdeer" is the new welcome sound of spring. I don't want to argue with knowledgeable scientists or even world class birders, such as Jim McCarty (see his Plain Dealer column every Thursday), Jeff Wert or Larry Roches from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, but the sound of killdeer, killdeer just does not have the mettle needed to oust the robin. Furthermore, the birds might be harbingers of spring, but they definitely don't have the spring feeling. It was 14 degrees, F. this AM for god's sake. Now, the real bird of spring is the Wild Turkey.
If you have heard the raucous throaty gobble of a dominant spring wild gobble, then you know what spring is. It is the deep, primitive sound of sex, domination, urgency and power. Now, that is spring. It is a primordial exercise in life itself.
Spring is just around the corner and so is turkey season.
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