Is this an exceptionally cool and rainy Spring?

Yesterday, I was out for my regular morning walk before the rains came but there was very little change from the preceding days. This morning, I managed only a shortened version of my walk amid light rain. I did notice a feeding flock of B-C Chickadees, Downy Woodpecker, Pine Warbler and one or two other unidentified small birds (warblers?) feeding high in the oak tassels. The cold rainy weather, north/northeast winds, the feeding flock and the continuing presence of White-crowned Sparrows (I hear them singing first thing in the morning) all promote the feeling that winter has not yet departed. But this should not fool anyone into thinking that climate change (a.k.a. global warming) is thereby contradicted. First of all, there is a difference between climate, which is global, and weather, which is local. Second, it is a badly-remembered fact that May on Eastern L.I. has long been cool and rainy. The old farmers' lore in these parts was not to plant until Labor Day. I remember finding and observing a small breeding colony of Cerulean Warblers (the first ever recorded on L.I.) and they were singing, courting and nesting (successfully) in the rain. We used to light our wood stove early in May and keep it running most of the month. Spring greenery and flowers out here tend to be around two weeks later than further east in NYC or on the mainland. This is particularly true of the South Shore where we are exposed to the cooling effect of the ocean which warms up at a much slower rate than the air (this is reversed in the fall, giving up a lot of Indian Summer). In spite of all the cool and rainy weather, I can say that the trees are leafing out and spring flowers are blooming a few days earlier than in the past and I have records that offer evidence of this.

At any rate, the weather changed about noon with quite a bit of warm sunshine alternating with scudding clouds (love that expression). I made it back down to the pond to witness a big influx of terns in the bay, at the intersection of creek and bay, and wandering up the creek apparently following fish runs. There were many Commons (believe it or not, the first of the year for me) mixed in with Forster's and Least Terns. What was especially interesting was to note the difference in the calls which does a good job of separating the three species by sound.

Eric Salzman