Signs of the coming of spring are appearing everywhere. So far, I’ve seen robins, red-winged blackbirds, killdeers, herring gulls, grackles, great-blue herons, geese, chipmunks, geese and others.

Humans also joined these harbingers of spring by tapping the maple trees. Mary Alice has been checking her flower beds for any green shoots. All these early spring signs will be slowed down If the weather turns cold.

Along with the robin, the Canada goose and the red-winged blackbird are probably our most recognized harbingers of spring. One cannot miss the return of the red-winged black bird because even if not seen, he certainly can be heard. The male’s loud calling of konk-a-ree and bright colored epaulets proclaim the arrival of spring even though, according to the calendar, it is still several weeks away.

A common name for the red-winged blackbird is soldier bird because its epaulets remind us of the shoulder ornaments attached to a soldier’s uniform. However the name is fitting since the red wings do gather in large flocks, and, just as marching armies, they do make skillful maneuvers as they wheel and turn at the same time while flying over fields.

Red-winged blackbirds can be found in any swamp, marsh or wet land in Pennsylvania. This is because they nest in loose colonies and build their nests low, over or near water, in the cattails, sedges, reeds and other shrubs.

Although the first males return between the end of February and the beginning of March, the main migration will not arrive until mid-March. Later, perhaps up to three weeks, the females arrive.

The red-winged blackbird travels in enormous flocks, sometimes in the company of grackles and cowbirds. One flock in the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia is estimated to have 15 million birds.

After the females arrive, the males spend much of their time while perched on the tops of bushes or clinging to old cattail stalks singing and protecting their territory against other red-wings and even against much bigger birds such as crows. I’ve often seen a male red-winged blackbird clinging to the back of a flying crow, pecking furiously at it.

The red-wing’s reputation for protecting its nest ranks right up there with the reckless abandonment shown by the kingbird.

Male red-winged blackbirds are polygamous, maintaining a large territory in which he has attracted two or three females into nesting. The females are brown with a streaked breast and a light streak over each eye. The easiest way to identify them, at least for me, is to see them in the company of males.

The female does all the work in the building of the nest. Although the male is nearby, he offers no help but seems to be interested in what she is doing, perhaps offering encouragement.

The nest is a loosely woven cup of dried cattail leaves, which is fastened to a stalk or twig with plant fibers. The female usually lays four pale blue-green eggs, usually spotted but can have zig zag lines of black, brown or purple. Incubation, which is done entirely by the female, takes 11-12 days. The young, which will stay in the nest for about twelve days, are fed a diet of insects. After they leave the nest, the young will feed upon weed seeds.

The female red-winged blackbird is a host to the female cowbird, which lays its eggs in another bird’s nest. The female red-winged blackbird will usually hatch and raise the young cowbird as her own, and sometimes, it is the only bird she will raise that summer.

The red-winged blackbird has a flying speed of 17-23 mph and weighs about 2 1/2 ounces. The females are smaller, weighing about 1 1/2 ounces.

I had often wondered why these early travelers just didn’t stay in the south a few weeks longer. Then, I read an article that stated that the early arrivals get to pick out the best habitat and establish their territory. As more arrivals come from the south, this territory could shrink but it is almost impossible for one bird to drive another bird out of its territory after it has been established. If you ask a military man, he will tell you that it is easier to defend an area than drive an enemy from it.

Although the calendar states that spring will officially arrive on March 20th of this year, don’t put your heavy coats and rubber boots away just yet. A quick check of past diaries tells me that on March 31, 1997, some areas in Pennsylvania received twenty-four inches of snow, and then on April 8th, we had a cold snap that lasted for three days, doing a lot of damage to the apple and peach crops. On Easter Sunday, April 7, 1996, we awoke to find three inches of snow had fallen through the night, and on the morning of May 14th, we had a hard frost as the temperature dropped to twenty-four degrees here in Troy.

Bill Bower is a retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Officer. Read his blog and listen to his podcasts on the outdoors at www.onemaningreen.com.