Spring is a Natural Sensory Experience

With the rising of Leo the Lion in the spring night skies, there is no turning back—spring is here!  The switch has been thrown on the great engine that powers the transition of the seasons. 

Our area’s forests, fields and various water habitats, such as ponds, creeks and rivers, rev up with natural events that make up the tapestry of winter transitioning to spring. 

Wet places sport the flower of the Skunk Cabbage which looks like a gypsy slipper with the pointy end sticking out of the still frozen wetland.  But, the biggest turnkey of the new season approaching that makes sense to most of us who live in the country or in town, are the birds. 

You can hear the chatter and chirp all over as birds flit from tree to shrub to your ground and are generally making their presence known to you and also a potential mate. 

Yes spring has arrived, even if the weather does not feel spring-like.  Every season has its own sights, sounds and smells with the transition from winter to spring being most exciting for the outdoor and nature enthusiast.

However, the transition from winter to spring stands as the most striking seasonal change of the year. Winter’s browns and grays give way to a multitude of colors found in the new season. 

Spring heightens your sensory awareness and you can enjoy these ways to tune up your five senses:

• Sight:  You’ll see birds hopping on your lawn, landing in trees and walking on the ground to slurp up those tasty earthworms.  Be sure to check out the yellows of Coltsfoot and the very prolific Dandelion that some of our southern Schuylkill PA Dutch neighbors  enjoy freshly-picked  in a spring meal of ham.  You can also see that spring green color rom the newly-borne leaves on the tips of trees.  
• Sound:  Listen to the Spring Peeper announcing its name: PEEP PEEP at dusk into the night.  Sometimes they share concert time with the Wood Frog who sounds like a duck with a bad cold with its QWACKing sounds.  Landingville Marsh is a good stop to listen for the Woodcock as it does its special mating ritual vocalization at day’s end with what sounds like a PEENNT.  Pine Grove is has a reputation for gulls to flit over the town making you feel like you are visiting a shoreline community.    
• Taste:  Be sure to try some Pennsylvania-made maple syrup on a tasty stack of flapjacks.  Open your mouth in the rain and taste a drop.  You can also clean the dust off that grill and enjoy some food grilled outdoors.
• Smell: Smell some soil and then the air after a cleansing spring shower.  Smell newly-opened flowers.  If anything, that first lawn mowing will take care of what people locally call “wild onions” that, in fact, are really called Wild Chives.  One man, who lives near New Ringgold, once told me that his eyes tear up so badly while he mows his lawn!  
• Touch:  Feel spring’s blustery winds on your face.  You can close your eyes and face the sun to feel its warming rays.  Touch an earthworm who ventured out to take advantage of the wet conditions.  Feel the soft petals of a freshly-bloomed Daffodil or Tulip.  

I’ll bet that you can think of more spring-things to sense.  You should treat yourself to some time each day to connect with your natural world, especially now that the season is getting warmer and spring settles in like a new pet in your family.

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About the Author: “Porcupine Pat” McKinney is a part-time environmental education coordinator for the Schuylkill Conservation District and provides programming for people of all ages with a special emphasis on schools, nature center development and public programming.

“Porcupine Pat” is originally from Marion, Ohio and holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree with Distinction in Natural Resources with an emphasis on Environmental Interpretation from The Ohio State University.

He is a recipient of the prestigious Sandy Cochran Award for Excellence in Natural Resources Education from the Pennsylvania Forestry Association in 2005, the 2007 Schuylkill Pride Award, the 2010 Schuylkill Outdoors Personality of the Year and a recipient of the 2013 PA Association of Environmental Educators “Outstanding Environmental Educator Award.”

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