Here’s a quiz for y’all: what’s a sure-fire way of knowing Spring is on it’s way?

a) Super Bowl is over
b) The Goodboys go to Las Vegas
c) Punxatawney Phil doesn’t see his shadow

The answer is neither. Well, I guess that’s not true. But around these parts it’s when the mourning doves start appearing during the day on the east wall of our house behind the citrus trees. I swear, the doves have a hundred thousand years of evolutionary practice ahead of the rest of us mere mortals, and while I’m certain they don’t have a calendar posted on some dove wall showing the first full week of February circled in black marker (or whatever a dove would use) and annotated with the words,

“Find 2013 Breeding Mate and Nesting Site!!”

…indicating it’s time to get crackin’. And today was THE DAY.

For the past several months the only time you saw and heard the doves would be late in the day when they’d start queueing up on the south wall behind the swimming pool fountain for a drink of water, but today after hearing some extremely close dove sounds I spied outside my office window a pair on the east wall doing all those dove-y kinds of things mourning doves do when checking out prospective lodging (and mates) for coming mating season – lots of preening, a wee bit of vegging out, and that unique form of aimless (at least to us!) walking back and forth on top of the wall as only doves can do. It’s intriguing and fun to watch.

Not sure the lime or lemon trees are gonna meet their rigid requirements this year – I did a fair amount of pruning last fall, so they may be just a little too exposed for them this year, but we’ll see. At any rate, it’s good to see them back and active again. Spring is definitely on the way!