Much like being ahead in time zone, my mother's yard is ahead of me as far as spring goes. I left Minnesota yesterday and drove to Indianapolis, watching the change from the highways. In Minnesota, cardinals are just testing out early morning song and we have one one robin jut establishing territory. On the way down, I stopped for gas in southern Wisconsin and could hear a song sparrow and noticed turkey vultures soaring overhead. As I got towards the Wisconsin/Illinois border I started to see killdeer and a tree swallows.

This morning in my mom's yard there are daffodils blooming and a whole chorus of robins and cardinals singing some hardcore territory songs:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4K4LM0wRTU[/youtube]

Crazy, as I type this, I'm now hearing Carolina chickadees instead of the black-capped I'm used to.