Thought for this March Day

One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of a March thaw is the spring.  A cardinal, whistling spring to a thaw but later finding himself mistaken, can retrieve his error by resuming his winter silence.  A chipmunk, emerging for a sunbath but finding a blizzard, has only to go back to bed.  But a migrating goose, staking two hundred miles of black night on the chance of finding a hole in the lake, has no easy chance for retreat.  His arrival carries the conviction of a prophet who has burned his bridges.

– Aldo Leopold –

Tags: Aldo Leopold, Birding, Spring