Changing Face of Spring

Abstract

0 Now that winter snows are thawing and spring buds are starting to unfold, man doffs his heavy overcoat, sniffs the warming air and looks to the sky for signs of spring-the flash of a bluebird or the soft trill of an evening robin. But what is happening to these annual spirited sounds and sights that throughout man's history have symbolized the demise of winter, the return of spring? Where are the birds? Actually the birds are still with us, but the varieties are changing. There are fewer numbers of songbirds and more of the aggressive, annoying birds around man's habitations. Instead of the bright finery of a redbird in the bush, there are the saucy brown feathers of an English sparrow. Instead of the whistle of a thrush, the raucous tones of the grackle burst through the spring air. Where once the warbler dipped its yellow wings, the pigeon-toed pigeon lays a careless egg in a corner niche of a house.