Signs of Spring

Well, not really spring, but the change of the season is starting to be evident. There was a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks cruising together at Lake Leatherwood, and the calls were not the usual long single syllable scream, but something shorter with two parts. Maybe a prelude to mating. Both Chickadees and Cardinals were singing territorial songs, the first I've heard this year. The water in the creek leading into the Lake was distinctly turquoise, a phenomena due (as I understand it) to the flushing of fine particulates from underground passages where they have accumulated during the dryer parts of the year. If someone knows of another explanation for this widespread Ozark phenomena, I'd like to hear about it. Bird variety was up, and there were many, maybe a hundred, Goldfinches tearing the sycamore balls apart, sometimes accompanied by Purple Finches