MARCH SUNSETS

      Spring is born from the chilly womb of winter, and the sunsets of March reflect that in southeastern Pennsylvania, as elsewhere.  The red, orange and yellow sunsets of March still have some of the crispness of winter ones, but now they also seem a bit "softer", more like summer sunsets, perhaps because of increased warmth and humidity in March.  And sunsets in March are still quite visible because of the lack of foliage on deciduous trees.

     Sunsets in March are times of quiet, peaceful beauties, as they are through the year.  They beautify the sky at dusk, make the landscape ruddy and are reflected attractively in still water, which doubles their appeal to viewers.

     Lone trees in fields and on lawns, woodlands and birds in flight are major parts of the beauties and intrigues of sunsets, including in March.  One can see every delicate twig, on every lone tree, silhouetted black before sunsets.  The needled limbs of coniferous trees look like broad, black brush strokes sweeping down from a spear-like peak.  

     Woods are silhouetted black against brilliant sunsets, looking to me like water color paintings.  Every bough and twig is vividly outlined before the sky's brilliant colors.  And, perhaps, a great horned owl or another kind of bird is spotted perching darkly on one of the branches. 

     However, birds silhouetted black in flight, are the most exciting part of March sunsets.  It's exciting to see and hear V's and long lines of flying, bugling Canada geese, or the melodious whistling of migrant tundra swans, speeding majestically across the sky in front of a magnificent sunset.  They are going to favorite feeding fields to shovel up corn kernels, under the protection of darkness. 

     Courting male woodcocks, a kind of sandpiper that lives and nests in young woods, rather than on mud flats and tundra settings, can be spotted spiraling upward in flight before glowing sunsets.  To see these amorous, long-nosed birds of crepuscular habits, stand in a weedy field next to a successional woodland and face the glow of the western sky.  

     Soon each male woodcock of a woodland stands on a bare-ground spot in the field and vocally "peents" several times.  Then he takes off in flight, winding upward before the sunset, while his wings twitter.  At the zenith of his flight, he sings several bubbling notes, then dives to the same bare spot, or another, to begin his intriguing courtship ritual again.

     I also enjoy seeing mourning doves and American robins going to roost for the night in coniferous trees on suburban lawns at dusk.  If we position ourselves properly, we can spot each darkly-silhouetted bird of both species darting into its sheltering tree in front of the glowing western sky. 

     And soon, on warmer evenings late in March, one might be lucky enough to see a few little brown bats fluttering across the sky before a brilliant sunset.  We can't see the insects they pursue, but we know those bugs are there by the erratic, swooping flight of the bats.

     Sunsets in March are lovely, peaceful and full of beauty, in themselves, silhouetted trees and wildlife in the air.  They are always a joy to experience.            

 



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