There was still snow just six days ago but it seems like the weather is skipping over spring as some of the spring wildflowers are done blooming in that short time. And the last of the birds have returned with the arrival of the hummingbirds and house wrens. And the wrens are busy making their nest as soon as they arrived back yesterday.
Gathering Sticks
Watch the busy wren gather sticks to build her nest.
https://youtu.be/wODg94mFEA8&w=640&h=430&rel=0
More birds are returning like the tree swallows and the grosbeaks. The orioles arrived on Monday, or at least the male Baltimore Orioles have. I am not sure why the males come first when it is the females that build the nest so it isn’t like he is getting the house ready. Instead he just complains when I am in the way and he can’t get to the sugar water or the jelly.
Oriole Getting a Drink
The Redpolls normally only spend a month or two during the winter months in my backyard as they actually summer near the arctic circle so apparently they think winter is sticking around here a lot longer. I know they are eating a lot of my seeds and they have throat pouches for temporarily storing seeds so they can fly away to eat the seeds in a more protected spot including under the snow. Redpolls can tunnel into the snow a foot to stay warm during the night.
Redpolls Still Around
I think the birds are tired of the snowy spring too as they been hitting the feeders rather hard and even a turkey was hanging out under the feeder this evening. I haven’t heard the killdeer anymore so it may have headed back south instead of running around on top of the snow. At least sandhill cranes have longer legs to wade through the snow but I think they prefer bare ground to do their walking and dancing.
Sandhill Crane Walk
Sandhill Crane Dance
https://youtu.be/6mQIWYeYLH0&w=640&h=430&rel=0
The old saying is that “Spring will finally arrive after three snows on a robin’s tail.” Well the robins arrived last week and it snowed today, but I don’t want it to snow again so I wonder if it counts if I shake snow off the tree branches a couple times on to the robin tail so spring can come.
Snowed on Robin’s Tail
It felt a little more like spring today on this first full day of astronomical spring as there were more robins in the yard today even if just a few degrees above freezing and not very sunny. But another spring voice was heard today with the return of the red-winged blackbird (although I didn’t see it, only heard it singing).
Return of the Red-winged
Some robins have been spotted in the area, even though I haven’t seen any in my yard yet and I saw a few flocks of geese heading north as well as some cranes. The sandhill cranes won’t find any open ground by me yet so they have to fly to another location if they don’t stand in snow. The earliest Sandhill Crane fossil, estimated to be 2.5 million years old, was unearthed in the Macasphalt Shell Pit in Florida.
Sandhill Crane
The winter birds were not singing the spring songs as loudly today in the mostly cloudy day. The red-winged blackbirds are often one of earlier arrivals as well as robins and killdeers. This killdeer can blend in with a plowed field and lays its eggs in a depression in the dirt (or cow pie) but right now the fields are still covered in snow. So it may be a few more weeks before seeing any spring arrivals.
Killdeer Blending In
I didn’t see a cardinal at my bird feeder today, so that means we shouldn’t get any snow tonight as people often say that cardinals bring in the snow (since they show up at the feeders just before a storm). But I haven’t seen any of my cardinals for the last month and it has been snowing very frequently so they haven’t been a good predictor, but the lack of cardinals might be because there are too many redpolls and finches at the feeders.
Lonely Cardinal
The birds were busy coming to the feeders today in the colder temperature and I had to refill several with seed. Sea gulls don’t visit my yard, even in the summer time, and definitely not in the winter with no open water nearby. I wouldn’t mind seeing a gull since that normally means a trip to a lake in the summer and warmer conditions
Sea Gull on a Warmer Day
