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AS HARBINGERS go, the vernal equinox doesn't cut it. We had snow on the ground that March day. And opening day of the baseball season isn't a reliable barometer, either. Although it was reasonably warm at Shea Stadium on April 1, by the time the Yankees opened a few days later, players and fans alike could see their breath as they blew on their fingers to keep them warm. But by Earth Day, on Monday, we can usually count on it looking and feeling a lot more like spring.
"What a strange winter and early spring we've had," said Patricia Speciner as she led a woodlands wildflower walk at Old Westbury Gardens last weekend. "It never turned cold until spring arrived - officially - after it had been so warm all winter. That really confuses the plants."
Not to mention the rest of us.
This Earth Day weekend - following a few days of summerlike temperatures - appears likely to assure bloomingly frost-free weather for the rest of the season. And in celebration there are plenty of let's-get-outdoors observances from Manhattan to Montauk.
Tomorrow at Montauk Point State Park you can catch sight of some marine wildlife on a seal-watching hike led by a park naturalist. While it's not guaranteed that you'll see any seals, it is unusual not to spot a few harbor or gray seals bobbing in the surf just off Montauk Point this time of year. Or you may even encounter seals sunning themselves on large rocks along the beach. The brisk two- to three-hour beach walk covers about seven miles.
In Manhattan, as well as in the other four boroughs, city parks are observing Earth Day tomorrow and Sunday. Starting at Central Park's Belvedere Castle and the Henry Luce Nature Observatory, Urban Park Rangers will lead a 90-minute navigational hike Sunday afternoon through the wooded ramble using a map and compass. Or you can see some birds of prey as up close as you dare - such feathered raptors as hawks, eagles and falcons from the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary. (If you can't make it to Central Park, the bird sanctuary is open all weekend at the Audubon Center in Oyster Bay, where you also can see less-threatening birds such as...