What to Look for in March in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres

 
 

One of the equinoxes occurs this month, moving the seasons to autumn in the Atlantic Rainforest region of southern Brazil and to a longed-for spring in Britain.

As nature adjusts to a time of greater light and warmth, here is what you can expect to see in Britain during the month of March:

• Hyacinth are in bloom, (as in the picture above)
• Badgers, rabbits, field voles and lambs are born
• The Magpie and robin build their nests
• The Blackbird sits on eggs
• The Dog Violet is in flower
• Slugs pair !

In the Atlantic Rainforest region of southern Brazil, March is a time of great, late-autumn heat, when everyone feels almost unable to move because it is so hot and humid. Here is what to look for in that rainforest in March:

 

• Cicadas are screaming loudly everywhere and all day long
• The ingã tree is flowering
• The "little bird of seven colours" (pasarinho de sete cores in Portuguese) also called the green-headed tanager, is so hungry it can be tamed with fresh bananas (see the drawing below)
• The magnificent blue morpho butterfly can be seen (see the drawing above)
• The Lenten Tree (Quaresmeira in Portuguese) which is native to the Atlantic Rainforest, begins to flower
• The tiny red tasselflower flowers (below)

 
 
 
 

Observe

Again, use the Nature Observation Chart to note your own observations for the month.

(The drawings above come from the March page of The Big Field : a Child's Year Under the Southern Cross.)

©2010 Anne Morddel

Seasons South and North