Minnesota Steelheader

    So I was sitting in my home office working today when I heard something that put a big smile on my face. I had to listen carefully just to make sure, but after a couple minutes there it was again, the unmistakable spring song of a male cardinal. He was sitting in the big pine which grows just outside my deck window letting all the other fellas know that my back yard was now his exclusive territory. Whether you realize it or not, we steelheaders are scientists of sorts. We rely on all sorts of signs to let us know that the steelheading season is upon us; in short, we practice the ageless art of Phenology.       Phenology is the study of the seasonal timing of life cycle events. You practice phenology when you record the date a certain plant flowers, a tree's leaves emerge, an insect hatches, a migratory bird appears on its nesting grounds, or when a cardinal begins singing it's spring song. The dates on which these happen each year are affected by factors such as day