Warm, dry winter bringing Chesapeake to life early

BALTIMORE (AP) - Crabs are crawling early out of the mud in the Chesapeake Bay earlier this spring, and that's only the beginning of changes expected from a warm, dry winter.

Lynn Fegley, deputy director of fisheries at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, says the mild winter will make everything a little different this year. Scientists are waiting to see if algae blooms are worse this year. Watermen say rockfish could spawn sooner. Bird watchers say many bird species are arriving one to three weeks early.

Thomas Miller of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Studies says one thing is certain: fewer crabs died of cold this winter. Nearly a third of the bay's crabs were lost last winter to cold. Miller estimated less than 5% succumbed this winter.