Arctic outbreaks, heavy snow and ice storms will continue to plague us for the next couple of months but, by early February, winter begins to lose its grip. A higher sun gradually takes a toll on the ice bound lakes and frozen ground and the longer daylight triggers wanderlust in our earliest migrants.
Within a few weeks, snowdrops and crocuses will adorn our lawns, skunk cabbage will grace the wetlands and tree frogs will call from their icy pools. Heeding the call of their cohorts and attuned to their own instinctual drive, swans and geese grow restless, soon to leave for breeding grounds above the Arctic Circle. Many other birds, stifled for the past few months, also sense the growing daylight and begin to sing as their mating season approaches.
We humans, consulting the calendar, anticipate the coming change. Less influenced by instinct, we are prone to impatience and disappointment. Knowing that spring lies ahead does not speed its arrival and, as past experience has taught us, winter will battle to the end.
