Male mourning dove shows iridescent patch on neck that distinguishes him as a male to birdwatchers and doves of the opposite sex.  Photo taken January 25, 2014 at feeders on front deck of our home in Apple Valley in Howard, Ohio.  (Photo by Don Comis)

While watching a mourning dove chase a female dove around my feeders today, I was struck by a sudden flash of red, reminding me of the red wing badge of a sexually mature red-winged blackbird.  This confirmed my conviction it had to be a male doing the chasing and taught me that the iridescent spot on a male dove's neck may not be as subtle a signal as I thought.

The "spring" sun had hit the spot just right so it flashed at me from a distance, enabling me to know it was there without me being able to see it.  This makes me think that maybe the female sees it that way all the time?

In any case, this goes on my growing list of my favorite signs of spring.  And I'm finally convinced that the spring robins are here, after seeing 12 robins on a lawn in my neighborhood today.

I know woodcocks are doing mating dances and I've seen bluebirds go in out of their houses.  And I've had a pair of house sparrows building a nest for weeks now in one of my bluebird houses.  I've heard the calls of a pair of barred owls announcing they've picked a territory for their nest.  I know great horned owls were incubating eggs in February.

And a great number of butterflies are going to start flying in April and May in Ohio.  For me, the real spring is in mid-April, based on a memory of when I lived in Ohio in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  I just knew it was spring one day when it was warm and the flowers were blooming at the Mount Vernon Developmental Institute where my wife and I worked.