for real

Spring was really here today, and as it is now the end of March, I think it might be for real. On a walk this morning I saw lots of worm castings - the small piles of processed soil that earthworms deposit at the soil surface. If the worms are coming up, the weather is warming up.
And what a gorgeous day! It started gray, but became sunny and warm, with a lovely springtime breeze - the kind of breeze that blows in a new growing season. I'm not sure what the high temp was today because I was outside all day with no thermometer in sight, but I was down to two shirts - quite a feat for me.
An interesting observation - I heard some chattering above my head today, and looked up to see two crows sitting on a barn roof chatting. Eventually they flew off, and came back a little later with a pal (I'm assuming it was the same two original birds, plus one). They sat up there chatting for quite a while - probably enjoying the sunshine. A cousin of mine, a bird biologist, says that corvids are some of the smartest birds out there. I wonder what the birds were talking about? (The photo above is of a raven we saw in Utah in April 2008)
AND for the second time this spring I thought I heard a towhee this morning, but my birding ears are poor, and I was not able to see the bird, so I couldn't confirm it. But when the towhees come back, it is another lovely sign of spring.