Outdoors

Nature Notes When Mindy Block saw the five red-winged blackbirds with some starlings perched high up in the bare branches of a tree near Port Jefferson Harbor on Feb. 10, it was not just an observation but a sign. It was a sign of things to come. Notes From Madoo On the penultimate day of January, two pots of Amaryllis papilio began to flower, two to a stem. One clump had a generous five other stalks waiting, the other, an astonishing seven.