A radiant warmth stretches across the Nebraska horizon, from soil to sunrise, spreading its wings still stiff from winter slumber.

 The Cornhusker State is waking up for the spring – filled to the brim with new life, new growth and welcome change. Even for the baby chipping sparrow, who hasn’t quite styled its wild plumage, and fresh-faced tulips still too shy to open up in Norfolk – spring is a pleasant turn of events.

Now that Jack Frost has closed the door on the cold months, our Nebraska landscape awakens with flora and fauna “springing” from the ground. Nebraskans alike jump at the chance to enjoy the outdoors. The fitness savvy take to trails for their cardio, those with green thumbs start planning their gardens, and photographers point their lenses toward the emerging colors coming from above and below, capturing beautiful blossoms and birds.

Bursting bright and skyward are buds in the most unassuming of places, like Fort Atkinson State Historical Park, tipped in stunning gold. The buttery coloring of these petals look much like the feathers of the male Baltimore oriole, an abundant little songbird who frequents blooming branches in backyards and delights the airways in almost all places across the state.

Another one of the most famous avian visitors in the area? Sandhill cranes.

A keystone stop for this migratory mass brings visitors (and birds) flocking to the Iain Nicolson Audobon Center at Rowe Sanctuary. With cornfields nearby and wide sandbars to enjoy safety, springtime in this space outside Kearney is a sight to behold.

Conservation program associates like Amanda Hegg cherish the transition of seasons early on.

“I always look forward to the sight of ice breaking up on the river as fresh water from mountain snow melt arrives,” Hegg said.

Shorebirds scuttle on sandbars, and migrant songbirds return to the breeding grounds with colorful breeding plumage.

“If one looks closely, you could spot spring wildflowers on the prairies and in our native plant rain garden,” she added. “Flowering native shrubs on the sanctuary, such as dogwood and wild plum, make the sanctuary smell so sweet.”

The air and ground are fresh with the likes of ground plums, ragwort, violets, puccoon, spiderwort, wild columbine, shell-leaf penstemon and blue-eyed grass – just to name a few. And this decorated vegetation serves a dual purpose. It’s equally as irresistible to birds and pollinators as it is people.

Whether it’s apple tree blossoms in a soft pink at Kimmel Orchard, bright and bold American goldfinches in a windowsill out west, or the inquisitive eye of a house wren in a tree at Lewis and Clark Lake, there is life and color waiting for all around the corner thanks to Nebraska springtime birds and blooms.