Last week, we reopened our Living Lab outdoor tours at the Ford Rouge Factory tour, which takes guests along the ponds, through the orchards and past the solar arrays here – and we noticed that signs of spring are popping up all over!

Lots of birds are returning to the Rouge, nesting and incubating their chicks. This killdeer bird and its mate decided to make a nest right next to the Living Lab’s walking path; the pair scratched out a nest in the woodchips and is incubating four or five eggs, which we expect will hatch around mid-May.

Take a look at the photo – can you spot the speckled eggs under the watchful parent?

Killdeer is a shore bird that is particularly attracted to the open fields and ponds around the Ford Rouge Factory Tour Visitor Center. The fields provide ample food, like crickets and worms, and there are lots of potential nest sites. A few years ago, a nest was even spotted on the living roof of the factory.

Killdeer nests can be hard to spot since the eggs are well camouflaged; oftentimes, the displays of the parents will alert you to a nest – the birds will do elaborate acts, such as pretending to be injured, to draw you away from a nest site.

A few other signs of spring visible on these rainy days:

The sedum plants under the solar array and on the living roof are turning beautiful shades of green, yellow and rusty reds.

The ponds are very full with the winter melt and spring rains. Soon we’ll be looking for frogs and toads around the ponds as we start our second season participating in an on-going citizen science initiative sponsored by Friends of the Rouge to record and monitor species living in the Rouge River watershed.

The crab apple and hawthorn trees in the orchard are beginning to leaf out nicely; I’m looking forward to their gorgeous white blooms in a few short weeks!

And this recovered nest (complete with fun stuffed robin!) are ready to educate our guests about other birds they might find on the Living Lab tour. Our small visitors love to squeeze the bird toys and hear them sing.

And in case you want your own bird to take home with you, the Rouge Store sells a selection of the Audubon bird toys along with great resource books to help you learn more even after your visit.

When parts of the Rouge Factory were renovated in 2003, the plan followed Bill Ford’s vision for a factory that could be healthier for the people who work here, a good neighbor to those who live nearby and a home for wildlife returning to the site. Pioneering architect Bill McDonough helped design this site so that vision could come true, and one of his metrics of the project’s success was to measure how many birds nest and live at the Rouge. Each spring since 2003, we’ve seen more and more evidence that their combined visions are a growing success at the revitalized Rouge Factory.

What signs of spring are you seeing around your neighborhood?