The mockingbirds have started
Every year, around this time, the familiar mating call of the Northern Mockingbird returns. It signals that we're getting close to spring. It's almost always a single bird, on the power lines above the backyard. I hear it as soon as I wake up. And if I didn't wear earplugs at night, I would probably hear it in the middle of the night. Sometimes it annoys me and other times it pleases me and I'll stop to watch in amazement that such a small creature can project such a piercing song.