Signs of spring: trillium, syrup, and construction barrels cited by Iowans

Passions and predilections determine what many Eastern Iowans rate as their favorite signs of spring.

Hawk researcher Jon Stravers of McGregor, for example, looks forward each spring, which officially starts at 5:45 this afternoon, to observing the courtship flights of the red-shouldered hawk.

Decorah fly angler and author Jeff Skeate thrills each spring to the first hatch of dark Hendrickson mayflies on a northeast Iowa trout stream.

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Trees Forever founding President Shannon Ramsay includes among her favorite signs of spring the green corona of budding and leafing trees.

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Retired Indian Creek Nature Center director Rich Patterson, whose name is synonymous with maple syrup, said the tree's dripping sap signals spring's start for him.

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Longtime clean water advocate Susan Heathcote, water programs manager for the Iowa Environmental Council, said she looks forward to seeing friends and neighbors venturing outside 'to enjoy Iowa's lakes, rivers, streams, parks and trails.'

Sharing spring with a 10-month-old grandson, she said, reinforces the importance of 'programs and policies that restore and protect Iowa's beautiful land and water resources.'

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Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett's preferred signs of spring also are decidedly job related: 'Ice floating down the river — a good sign that property damage from water overflowing the river because of ice dams has been averted. And orange street construction barrels — a good sign road improvements are just around the corner.'

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The spring's first flowers rate highly with several Eastern Iowa nature enthusiasts.

Dick Jensen of West Union, who has dedicated much of his life to teaching youngsters the wonders of nature, said he is rejuvenated each year by his first glimpse of pasque and trillium peeking through the snow.

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Dennis Goemaat, deputy director of the Linn County Conservation Department, said the aptly named snow trillium is among his traditional March thrills.

'The first time I saw a patch of them blooming, I thought it was a patch of snow. It seemed odd as most of the snow was gone at the time, so I went over to investigate.

'What a delight! I have enjoyed them ever since,' Goemaat said.

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Sunshine illuminates a pasque flower, one of Iowa's first spring blooms and a favorite sign of spring for Johnson County Conservation Director Larry Gullett. (Larry Gullett photo)

Johnson County Conservation Director Larry Gullett expresses similar sentiments for the pasque, 'the first prairie flower to break through the old residue from last year's prairie.'

The faint purple flower emerges each year around Easter — hence its name, which means Passover, Gullett said.

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Stephanie Shepherd, manager of the Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Diversity Program, said the annual return of redwinged blackbirds is her surest sign that spring has arrived.

'It seems like one day they aren't there and the next they are, like magic,' she said.

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A calf stands in the sun on a farm in Toddville. (Michael Noble Jr./The Gazette)

DNR Director Chuck Gipp, who grew up on a dairy farm near Decorah, fondly recalls the first spring day the cows were turned out to pasture.

Impatient with their wood and concrete winter quarters, the cows waited eagerly by the gate, ready to 'run down the lane and back and forth across the pasture before finally calming down,' Gipp said.

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'The noisy drumroll' of woodpeckers 'publicizing their desire to attract mates and establish territories,' which usually starts in February, is a favorite spring sign of ecologist and author Connie Mutel of Solon.

Mutel said her hunger for fresh greens prompts spring searches for nutritious and delicious stinging nettles, which are ready for consumption about when gardeners plant lettuce and spinach.