More signs of spring arrived the last two days as more birds returned like the wrens, swallows, orioles, grosbeaks and the little hummingbirds. Rose-breasted grosbeak males actually sit on the eggs for a few hours during the day but the female does most of the egg incubating.
Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Arbor Day is a special day that is set aside to raise awareness of trees and I was real aware of all the limbs I was picking up off my lawn. And the birds were aware of the trees as the warmer weather had a lot of courting occurring in the tree branches. There was flashes of blue as courtship was happening among some bluebirds. And the northern flickers were rather vocal as they chased each other among the branches.
A Northern Flicker
Maybe today will be the last day the American Tree Sparrow has to deal with snow as I noticed that white stuff in the ditch finally melted this afternoon. Although this bird must like snow as it will migrate farther north to breed this summer. And the bird is misnamed as the American Tree Sparrows are ground birds, foraging and nesting on the ground.
American Tree Sparrow
I was down by my pond today straightening the wood duck box poles (now that the frost is finally out of the ground) and spotted a few tiny fish swimming in the water. I also heard a bluebird so another bird has returned from the south so another sign of spring even if no wildflowers yet.
Bluebird Returns
Weather folklore says, “Spring will finally arrive after three snows on a robin’s tail.” Some people in the area have spotted some robins back, but I haven’t yet so I don’t know if the saying counts if it snows on a killdeer tail instead since the killdeers have returned. I rather not wait for the arrival of the robins if it snows this coming week and it doesn’t count towards the number of snowfalls needed on a robin’s tail.
Snow on Bird’s Tail
With temperatures above freezing and the sun out, I wasn’t the only one enjoying the day as there was a cardinal singing loudly in a tree this morning. I’m not sure if all the singing was for the weather or if there was love in the air.
Happy Cardinal
The number of birds at my feeders is less than previous years and so far I haven’t spotted any Redpolls this February like I have in past years.
Missing Redpoll
My crafty squirrel manages to get to the bird feeder no matter what obstacles I try to thwart his efforts and so the birds have to find other sources of food, like the seed heads of the black-eyed Susans. The goldfinch doesn’t look very golden in the winter months.
Not Golden
The chickadees seemed to enjoy the sunshine today as much as I did, but the chickadees always seem to have a cheery song no matter what the weather is. The only time they don’t sound happy is when I haven’t filled the bird feeder or I am taking too long to fill it.
Sunny Chickadees
There were people do Black Friday shopping today, and the birds were doing black shopping too, or more like gathering black sunflower seeds in between snow storms.
Cardinal Cracking Seeds
