Arrivals en masse

A couple of Song Sparrows made an appearance at our feeders this past weekend. Haven't seen them since.

The second annual Red-winged Blackbird occupation has apparently begun. I was so happy to see the first couple in our yard last week. I should've known better. Yesterday, I discovered that they'd decided to take up residence in our woods again - all you can hear is hundreds of RWBs calling to each other. The noise is unbelievable. Last year was so wet and the woods so boggy that the RWBs were there for a month or more, and I thought they'd never leave. I think they're lovely birds, but not in numbers like that.

Yard bird species #55

Came home this afternoon to find a lone redpoll hanging out in the lilac tree. I love these little guys and have only seen them once in the past... oh, 30 years or so, so I was really happy to see him. :)

Spring arrivals continue

Despite the snow squall that was going through the area at the time, a male red-winged blackbird was singing his heart out in our front yard this morning. Definitely a sign that spring is here. We also had a pair of House Finches in our hopper feeder, and they only tend to show up once the worst of winter is over. There were also more than 50 American Goldfinches swarming the feeders in the backyard today, and some of the males are starting to brighten up as their breeding plumage slowly starts to come in.

Last night we saw something we'd never seen before. A flock of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Tundra Swans flew over the farm behind ours. They were too far away for pictures, but close enough that we could ID them through binoculars, fortunately. But my god. It was an endless cloud of huge, snow-white birds. It was pretty spectacular. It's too bad they didn't fly right over the house, or I could've added them to our Yard Birds list. ;-)

Spring is in the air

Happy March!

As much as I love my winter birds, I'm really looking forward to Spring migration. I'm anxious to get my garden cleaned up and start planting... which is nuts, considering we've still got two-foot-deep snow drifts in parts of our yard, and the Horned Larks are still singing away in our fields. (I love listening to them when I'm out in the yard with the pup. Such a pretty sound.)

Regardless, though, I saw my first signs of Spring this week: the maple trees around us are being tapped for syrup, and I saw a robin fly across the road on my to work yesterday. Yeah, yeah, I know, some robins are over-wintering here now. But I'm going to go with it being a migrant. Makes me feel better. ;-)

I also watched Mr. Northern Cardinal attack his reflection in my car's side-view mirror this morning. I figure that's a sign that he's ready to start fighting for mating rights.

The downside to Spring is that all of a sudden we've got flocks of Starlings taking over our feeders. I hate those birds so, so, sooooo much. Them and the House Sparrows. Ugh. The Starlings are also brilliant mimics, and have fooled me and Dave more than once. They have a stellar red-tailed hawk cry, and lately they've been singing the first few notes of the male cardinal's call.

Haven't been taking many pictures around the yard, but I've been visiting a really lovely park down in Cambridge and getting some nice shots of the usual winter suspects - Black-capped Chickadees, American Tree Sparrows, Northern Cardinals, White-breasted Nuthatches. I even saw a beautiful male House Finch a few weeks back, and a Song Sparrow. It's early for a Song Sparrow, I think, but since the winter's been so mild, maybe it's not that unusual.

Here are a couple of my faves:

Yard bird species #54

Two new yard birds inside of a week. Woot! :D This time it was a red-bellied woodpecker. Kinda funny, since we only saw one in person for the first time two weekends ago, and now one shows up at our feeders.

Yard bird species #53

A wild turkey just ran through our yard. It was in the corn field behind our house, and came right past the house. No picture, because it's almost dark, but still - species #53! :)

No GGO

I finally decided to make the trip down to Kingsville to see the Great Grey Owl that's been causing such a commotion for the past few weeks. And guess what? I didn't see it. Apparently it was seen briefly Saturday morning, before I got down there, and hasn't made an appearance since.

I can't even tell you how disappointed I was. When I headed down there Saturday morning, I told myself I'd be thrilled if I came back with even one frame-worthy shot. By Sunday morning, I would've been happy just seeing the bird. But after a total of 13 hours of driving (3 hours each way, then driving around the back roads trying to track down the owl), I didn't come home happy. :(

I really hope the bird's just moved on to better hunting grounds, and it hasn't been hit by a car or taken out by a local to get rid of all the annoying tourists clogging the roads. A few of the people I spoke with while I was there said visitors had been getting increasingly loud and the poor thing was having trouble hunting.

So yes, I missed out on an incredible opportunity, and I'm even more jealous now of my friends' incredible pictures. I just hope this gorgeous owl is safe wherever it's moved off to.