They say a picture is worth a thousand words — but for Nancy Nordin, one photo turned into a once-in-a-thousand bird sighting.

Some brightly colored birds (orioles, tanagers and grosbeaks) are now migrating north through Central America. And storms cross from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico before making their way northward to us.

The first singing American robins are eagerly anticipated every spring. Ten robins were loudly and continuously singing at my house on April 4, on a day where temperatures approached 70 degrees.

If we drink salt water we get thirstier. But not birds. Some birds — albatrosses, shearwaters, penguins, gulls and pelicans — can drink salt water!

There are several species that everyone enjoys seeing in the spring as it signals better weather is coming.

Our spring equinox, the start of the astronomical spring, comes on March 20 at 5:01 a.m. (I have not researched how they come up with the exact to the minute 5:01 time).