• Mary Holland
• Wood frog

Some years ago, my college roommate came to a conference in Burlington in March. I was thrilled to spend time with her in between all of her conference duties, but as we shuttled back and forth between her hotel and my apartment in the Old North End, I imagined what she, a resident of the verdant South, must be seeing: dog poop everywhere, piles of melting brown — and yellow — snow, bare trees, zero green things, dirt and mud. Ick!

Even for those of us who love winter, there comes a time in March when the season has outstayed its welcome and spring can't come soon enough.

If you find yourself fending off March misery, here's something that can help: Try looking for specific wondrous things that appear during this transitional time. You can find a few of them on the Burlington Wildways nature clock, which collects observations from local amateur naturalists.

Here are some of the species that were observed doing interesting things in Burlington in March of the past few years: tufted titmice started singing ("Peter, peter, peter, peter"); Canada geese, turkey vultures, song sparrows, and red-winged blackbirds returned from their migratory journeys; skunk cabbage and silver and red maple flowers emerged; chipmunks and snapping turtles were spotted.

Doesn't it feel manageable to keep half an eye out for five birds, three flowers, a mammal and a reptile?

Another resource to help you look for jewels in a sea of brown: Mary Holland, Vermont author and naturalist extraordinaire. She documents pretty much everything going on outdoors on her blog, naturallycuriouswithmaryholland.wordpress.com, and in her many books.

• Mary Holland
• Beaver

Two of my favorites are Naturally Curious and Naturally Curious Day by Day. They're written for adults, but the photographs — most of which she took herself — are so numerous and engaging that kids might enjoy flipping through the pages. Both titles contain a wealth of information.

Naturally Curious Day by Day will give you a few things to keep an eye out for every day of the year. Naturally Curious is organized by month. It begins in March, with a chapter titled "Awakening;" January and February come at the end of the book.

In the first chapter's packed 34 pages, Holland lists the birds nesting in March — bald eagle, Cooper's hawk and various owls, to name a few. She also offers details about the many mammals that breed in early spring. Think chipmunks, woodchucks, skunks, gray foxes, fishers, bobcats, mink and otters. Also included are when and where they give birth and the sounds they make — fisher: "yowls, howling"; bobcat: "shrill screams, harsh squalls, and deep-toned yowls"; mink: "chuckling"; otter: "caterwauling."

Even though I don't often encounter these animals, just knowing that they're busy out there helps me hang on until spring.

Holland also suggests things to look for on the ground during daylight hours. For example, have you ever been walking in the woods and come across a bunch of short tips of conifer branches littering the forest floor? Holland points out that red squirrels often nip spruce, pine, hemlock and fir twigs and eat the cones and tender buds. Hemlock, red maple, red oak and aspen branches could also be bitten off by porcupine, she writes. From a relatively safe spot near the trunk, a porcupine "nips off the tip of the branch, consumes the edible parts, and drops the uneaten portion onto the ground." Look on the cut end of the twig for the porcupine's incisor marks.

• Mary Holland
• Wood duck

If, on the other hand, you see a shrub or tree with twigs that have been ripped off near the ground, Holland explains how to tell if it was a white-tailed deer or a rabbit: Since deer don't have top teeth, they grip twigs in their mouths and rip them off, making a shredded mess. Rabbits make a clean, 45-degree cut.

Holland shares details about important plants each month, too. For example, did you ever stop to appreciate staghorn sumac fruits? She notes that this unassuming shrub "provides a great service to wildlife in winter and early spring, when food can be scarce and tiny red seeds still cling to its branches. Although not a first choice, sumac fruit is eaten by nearly 100 species of birds when other more desirable food is not available." Plus, "cottontail rabbits and white-tailed deer frequently feed on the bark, branches, and fruit, and many insects overwinter inside its clusters of hairy seeds."

I hope looking for a few of these sweet things helps you get through March, whether the month offers a late-season blizzard or just an extended mud season. It'll be April before you know it, and you'll be able to start looking for spotted salamanders and wood frogs journeying to vernal pools to mate, woodcocks courting, and early-spring ephemeral wildflowers like bloodroot, trilliums and hepatica emerging from the no-longer-frozen ground.

As the ice on ponds melts, you might see beavers poking their heads above water for the first time since the ice formed. By the end of March, waterfowl migration will be in full swing — look for wood ducks courting on a stream or beaver pond near you.

Find the Burlington Wildways nature clock at burlingtonwildways.org/get-involved/city-nature-clock.