Pre-spring fling
As a naturalist and photographer, one of my favorite late-winter sports is searching for signs of the upcoming growing season. Most of these are pretty subtle: new growth among plants, the first flowers, plumage changes among birds, the arrival of early migrants, and the debut of bird calls, among others. But then there are the larger, more undeniable signs that nature, be it "natural" or human, is getting ready to get things going. Here's proof of the latter—the late-winter ritual that the local diary farmers engage in to clean out the cow-waste pools in the barns and fertilize the fields. You can always tell this is going on—the odor is, well, pungent—and if you happen to be on a walk in the right area, well, the manure spreaders tell the malodorous tale.