NOW it feels like Spring

Last night at the dog park, there was an Eastern Meadowlark up in a tree singing its little heart out for all to hear. Literally - it was LOUD. But so, so pretty.

This morning, I knew Spring was really here. Our Tree Swallows are back! A pair of them were hanging out on the clothesline this morning, which made me soooo happy.

Meadowlarks and Swallows are on my "To get GOOD pictures of this year" list. Here's hoping! :)

More spring arrivals

We had a brutal cold snap last week that I thought was going to kill all my plants - not so! They're still growing like crazy, and I think we're still going to have a really early spring blooming.

Our first Northern Flicker of the year showed up in our yard on Sunday, foraging for bugs where our yard meets the unplowed farm field.

I actually ended up putting out our oriole and hummingbird feeders last week, because the migration maps are showing them much farther North than they usually are this time of year. Since it's too early for most of the nectar-rich flowers to be out yet, feeders are essential to help early migrants survive. And just a few minutes ago I received a report of a hummingbird spotted in Guelph (which is about 20 - 25 minutes from us). I'll be putting out a second hummer feeder tonight, I think.

Published!

I received a lovely surprise in the mail yesterday from the Canadian Wildlife Federation. I'd submitted some images to a competition of theirs back in November, and while I didn't place at all, they chose one of my photos to include in their April issue of WILD magazine.

It was this photo of a Viceroy butterfly on a coneflower:

And earlier this year, I found out two of my images submitted to a competition hosted by Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Celebrating Urban Birds calendar.

This cardinal was January:

And this hummer shared one of the summer months, but I can't remember which one off the top of my head.

So yay! I guess I can now say I'm a published photographer. :)

Yard Bird Species #56

A Common Raven, cawing its head off, flew over my head this morning when I was in the back yard. So species #56 it is! :)

On a not-so-happy note, we got hit by a killing frost last night. We tried to cover most of the "important" plants, but it's not looking good. Only the ones that had more than one layer of cover seem to have gotten through it unscathed. *sigh* So much for an early Spring.

Return of the chippies

We have a Chipping Sparrow! I love these little guys so much - they're so little and cute.

A chippie actually landed on my hand two summers ago. I was refilling a tube feeder and hanging it on the deck, and the little chippie obviously wasn't thinking too clearly - just wanted food. He came flying at the feeder, landed on my hand, and you could see the second it registered with him that, "Oh, shit - shouldn't have done that!" And then he zipped back up to the tree to wait for me to go inside. It was really rather cute.

So yes, just another sign of Spring. Of course, it's supposed to get cold again Monday and Tuesday, with lows below freezing, so I'm a worried about what might happen to all the plants that are already trying to bloom. Hopefully they'll all survive okay. *fingers crossed*

Playing hard to get... loudly

I'm currently sitting at the back window watching a pair of Killdeer chasing each other around the field behind our house. My god, the noise these two are making! I'm not sure which one of them is making the noise like a dying squeak toy (not the typical Killdeer call), but maaaaan. They just keep chasing each other up and down the rows of leftover, dried corn stalks, seemingly squeaking as loudly and continuously as possible.

I love hearing the birds, don't get me wrong, but wow. So high-pitched it was starting to hurt my ears... and the pup wasn't overly fond of the sound, either.

Spring is springing

We've had an unseasonably warm spell the past week, and I'm not talking just a little above normal, which is 6 degrees (42 Fahrenheit) this time of year. It's been in the mid- to high-20s (70s and 80s Fahrenheit). This is weather we normally expect in late May and early June, not the middle of March.

So, needless to say, my gardens are going crazy.

We have four main beds in the yard: along the front of the house (which we don't do much with, since it's mostly in the shade), under the back window, the main garden out back that has the pond and waterfall, and one along the shed/storage barn to the side of the yard. We've also got a couple of small beds and plants along the fence Dave built last Spring.

Anyway, because of this insane weather, everything is starting to bud. We've got iris, lupines, beebalm, delphinium, columbine, cone flowers, bleeding hearts, and lily of the valley all coming up. My honeysuckle vines have big new leaves. All our shrubs have leaf buds, and our lilac trees - especially the one out back that gets full sun all day - have leaf buds the size we saw in early May last year. (Last year was a particularly cool Spring, though, and things were a couple of weeks later than usual.)

I've gotta say, I'm a little bit worried about what this might mean. A cold snap could kill everything, and then we'd be screwed for the rest of the summer. Or if things keep going the way they are, will everything die a lot earlier this year, because it bloomed earlier? If that's the case, I have to make sure I buy some late-blooming annuals to fill in some of the bare spots...

I'm also wondering how this weather might influence migrating birds. Will everything come through early? The only new arrival we've had in the past week are the killdeer who like to fly around our fields screaming their little heads off. The number of Grackles, Starlings, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Red-winged Blackbirds, and House Sparrows invading our yard continues to climb, though. Unfortunately. Our feeders are getting emptied out with alarming speed. And last night we saw a pair of House Sparrows trying to stake out one of our nesting boxes. (All I can say to that is: Nuh-uh. Not gonna happen, you little feathered bastards.) But I've already seen reports of ruby-throated hummingbirds as far north as Michigan, and there have been tree swallows spotted locally. I know I'll feel silly doing it, but I think I'm going to put out a hummingbird feeder or two this weekend, just in case. Same with our Oriole feeder. Better safe than sorry, right?

Also, note to self: have Dave get the pond cleaned up and running.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how the season continues to unfold. Things are supposed to cool off a bit after tomorrow, but we're still going to be above average. Most of our lows are still going to be higher than the normal high temps for the this time of year, and and it doesn't look like we'll get anywhere close to freezing.