I guess it is officially spring now as the first mosquito got me this afternoon and the first bite from that tiny insect feels more like a hummingbird. But so far the hummingbirds, orioles, wrens and grosbeaks haven’t wandered quite this far north yet although hopefully I will see more of the returning birds soon.
Hovering Hummingbird
A little over a hundred miles to the south of my place, my sister spotted the first grosbeak back for the season. I haven’t seen one yet but the Yellow-rumped Warblers as been around for about a week, although they have been at suet feeder a lot since the cold, wet spring hasn’t provided a lot of insects for their snacks. The Yellow-rumped Warbler have two distinct subspecies – the “Myrtle” Warbler of the eastern U.S. with a white throat and “Audubon’s” Warbler of the mountainous West with a yellow throat.
Yellow-rumped “Myrtle” Warbler
Morning revealed another new layer of snow as a pileated woodpecker attacked my suet block. For being the largest woodpecker in the country, the pileated woodpecker is hard to spot and harder to get a photo of one although I often hear their call. I have been seeing one for the last month, but he always hears and flies away when I try to open the door from my kitchen into the garage so I could get to a window without a screen to take a picture. With their body shape and head, I can almost picture them as a prehistoric age type of pterosaur found on the set of Jurassic Park. It was six years ago when I was able to get a couple photos of the big woodpecker.
Pileated Woodpecker
More snow melted over night with the temperature staying above freezing as more birds have returned giving more hints of spring coming. The geese have been flying overhead while the red-winged blackbirds are singing down by my pond, even if the pond still has an ice layer yet. And while it is hard sometimes to spot the killdeer, their call has announced their arrival several days ago. Killdeers will display the broken-wing act when predators get too close to their nest.
Killdeer Returned
With more snow melting today exposing some bare ground, the robins have returned but no worms have emerged from the frozen soil yet for a bird snack.
Returning Robin
Yesterday there was six tom turkeys that would not get off the road, but it was the pheasants darting across the road in front of my car several times today. Maybe they were hanging around the blacktop road where it was warmer than the snow covered ground. And like me, they probably are dreaming of green grass instead of the cold frozen winter landscape.
Pheasant In Summer
Another sub-zero day had the birds coming for bird seed very frequently and they were a bit impatient waiting for me to refill the feeders. The other day I had seven chickadees lined up on the rope where the feeder was hanging as I was filling it, but today they waited in the tree which provided some protection from the cold winds.
Chickadee Waiting
It was another deceiving winter day as the sun was out but the temperature was cold. Even the birds were fluffing up their feathers as they waited in line for the bird feeder. Birds fluff up in cold weather to create pockets of warm air next to their bodies. The technical term for fluffing up is ptiloerection.
Fluffed Up Bird
Many of the summer birds have left a while ago, so the year-round birds are more noticeable again, like this downy woodpecker enjoying the autumn day as it searches for food.
Autumn Woodpecker
This sandpiper did not like to gets its feet wet and stayed away from the waves until it needed a drink after finding stuff to eat along the beach.
Sandpiper on the Beach
