Spring is coming (!) and lots of exciting things are happening:
1. A male Eastern Bluebird has been checking out our two nest boxes over the past couple of days. I would absolutely love to have a bluebird pair take up residence in one of these boxes, which are a new addition to the property as of last year. (Of course, I also love having Tree Swallows as tenants, and other birds are welcome, too, but these are "bluebird" boxes, after all!)
2. Yesterday was apparently a fantastic day for migration, because big flocks of geese were passing overhead all day. In 10 minutes in the middle of the day, I counted 500 Canada Geese flying over our house, plus a couple of Snow Geese. And I saw reports yesterday of people counting Canada Geese in the tens of thousands as they passed over the area. We even heard flocks of geese honking overhead at around 9:00-10:00 PM, times which have normally been so silent around here all winter.
3. Garden season has started! I planted some asparagus seeds indoors a couple of weeks ago (I know people usually plant asparagus crowns, but seeds turn out to be much cheaper, and you have to wait a year or more to harvest the asparagus either way), and now there are the tiniest asparaguses (asparagi?) growing in our basement. I didn't know asparagus could be so small! And tomorrow I'll plant the next wave of vegetable and flower seeds and tuck them into their cozy growing area, with lights and heat mats. Yay, plants!
4. I visited Sapsucker Woods today (at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology) and saw even more early spring sights. Beautiful Skunk Cabbage blossoms are poking up above the snow, and while I didn't clearly see whether any of these super-early spring flowers are actually open yet, I was still very happy to see these lovely speckled plants:
Red-winged Blackbirds have just returned to the area (like, yesterday), and male blackbirds were displaying from perches all around Sapsucker Woods's many marshy areas. These are the first Red-winged Blackbirds I've seen this year! Those bright wings are intense, especially in otherwise bare trees:
This male was a little more reserved, keeping his red shoulders partly covered while he puffed up and called:
Here's one more picture of this bird, looking handsome in between displays:
March is such a strange month. Or maybe it's just this March that's exceptionally strange! Over the past few weeks, I've seen the signs of spring accumulating -- the change is happening, really! -- but at the same time winter has refused to let go. The mixture of cold weather and persistent snow with shifting wildlife populations and growing greenery is tantalizing and a little frustrating. I'm ready for spring to really get going! But I can wait... it won't be much longer now.
Way back on February 20, I first noticed tiny crocuses pushing up through the barely-thawed ground in our yard -- my first green growing things of the year!
(At least, I think they're crocuses.... They weren't blooming yet when the snow returned, and they've been buried under a snow bank ever since.)
On February 24, I happened to be outside checking the electric meter, when I heard a strange noise overhead. I looked up and saw lines of Snow Geese flying north, right over our house. And not just, like, some Snow Geese. But flocks and flocks of Snow Geese, honestly as far as I could make out both to the north and south, a stream of interlocking lines across the sky. It took several minutes for the entire procession to go by -- calling the whole way -- and as best as I could figure out, there were at least 5,000 birds in the air. It was one of the most fantastic migrations I've yet seen, and all the more wonderful because our home was right in its path. If thousands of birds heading north toward their arctic breeding grounds isn't a sign of spring, I don't know what is! I was able to get at least a few pictures of the event; the Snow Geese were high up, but they were still recognizable with their white bodies and black-tipped wings:
Some of the patterns they made in the air were fairly complex:
Here's the widest view I could get with my camera; it's just a small portion of the whole, but even this is way more birds than I'm used to seeing in the sky at once:
And here's a somewhat shaky video, to give a sense of the geese's wonderful, constantly shifting patterns, and the sound of it all:
Well, that's something I never expected to see from my yard! Wow!
The beginning of March brought a big snow storm and huge wind gusts that ended up causing damage to our house. (Not a fun time!) Since then, we've been staying at a hotel while waiting for the necessary repairs to happen... and who knows what amazing things I'm missing while spending so much time away from the yard. (I'm ready to go back! Can I move back in yet??) On March 14, we were at the house (cleaning up) during a thick snowfall, and a large flock of migrating blackbirds descended on the yard, the first blackbirds we've seen this year. Red-winged Blackbirds on the feeder, with a Northern Cardinal and Blue Jay looking on -- despite all the snow, this is definitely not a normal winter sight:
Most of the dozen or so Red-winged Blackbirds in this flock were sleek black males, but this male (a young bird?) had lovely brown-edged feathers on his back and wings:
And there was at least one female Red-winged Blackbird in the mix (my understanding is that it's more typical for the females to show up after the males). This female didn't look especially happy to be out in the driving snow:
She was a very lovely bird:
The most numerous birds in this big flock of black birds were Common Grackles. Again, this is a pretty strange sight for our feeder:
All those big dark birds made for a different kind of storm along with the snow:
Common Grackles are quite striking birds, maybe even more so with these snow-covered surroundings:
The blackbirds made strange dark ornaments on our hickory tree:
And in flight, they made a stark contrast with the gray/white hills:
Also, now I've had the surreal experience of shoveling snow while listening to Red-winged Blackbirds calling. Winter mixes with spring. But spring will prevail. I'm hoping for many more spring sights, and soon!
Yesterday afternoon, I wandered around the fields and ponds near our house to check in on our wildlife neighbors. And to admire the scenery, of course:
Yellow seems to be a very popular color around here. There are all those yellow hawkweed flowers that have just recently burst into bloom in the fields (I haven't looked closely enough to identify the species). An Eastern Meadowlark with his bright yellow breast was singing from the top of a tree near the field:
And a female Yellow Warbler was carrying soft nesting material to some secret location:
A couple of White-tailed Deer sauntered out of the woods at one point and took hardly any notice of me before continuing on their way:
I've guessed that Red-winged Blackbirds are nesting at the ponds in our neighborhood, because walks by these ponds in recent weeks have been accompanied by hovering/yelling blackbirds, often at close range. On this walk, I actually spotted one of the reasons why the adult blackbirds are so protective of this area: Look at the little fuzzy babies in their nest, hidden so well among the cattails!
I didn't stay long, especially since a male Red-winged Blackbird made it very clear that I wasn't welcome:
He did a lot of yelling:
But he also interspersed his yelling with grooming, stretching himself into all sorts of shapes:
Then a female showed up and added her voice, and OK, I'm going, I'm going:
When I got back to the house, another interesting creature was watching me from a daylily leaf near the front door:
A large jumping spider (probably the appropriately named Bold Jumper, Phidippus audax) had snagged an equally large fly from among the insects feeding on the chive blossoms nearby. Wow, what a catch:
Here's one more picture of this creature, so you can appreciate its fuzzy legs and beautiful iridescent mouthparts; I think jumping spiders are really cute and cool, and I'm happy to have this big creature for a neighbor:
Spring is starting to wind to a close, but much of the activity out there is just getting started!
This past Saturday was chilly and gray and rainy, and I did a dance with the weather for much of the day -- I kept trying to go outside, and then the rain would push me back inside. But I saw so many creatures in the time I was outside. Lots of birds that I hadn't seen yet this year are now back in the area, and they were out despite the wet weather, so I needed to be out there, too!
On Saturday morning, I drove out to a nearby park, and on my way home (after the rain sent me back to my car), I stopped to admire a bunch of swallows gathering on a fence next to the road. Tree Swallows are always beautiful, even in the rain:
I'm not used to seeing Tree Swallows and Barn Swallows hanging out in the same spot like this:
The birds seemed to be taking the rain as a bathing opportunity. Shake off those raindrops, little bird:
When I got home, the rain let up again for a bit, so I wandered outside near our house, where fields of bright yellow flowers make for quite a dramatic landscape, especially below heavy clouds and mist:
I'm guessing these yellow flowers are some sort of mustard, and the Red-winged Blackbirds at least seem to be making good use of them. I saw several male Red-winged Blackbirds displaying in parts of the field, and this female was picking up what looks like nesting material from among the yellow flowers:
So many birds in the area were taking advantage of the halt in the rain to move around. Every few minutes, I'd look up and see a different bird passing by overhead -- a heron, various hawks, vultures, ducks.... An Osprey circled over our neighborhood a couple of times, perhaps eyeing the ponds:
Even a Common Loon flew by at one point, heading toward the nearest Finger Lake, I'm guessing. I'm amazed that this creature could fly with all those damaged feathers on its left wing (and now I know that loons trail their big feet behind them when they fly, how cool):
Lots of birds were moving around in the trees next to the fields, including my first Baltimore Orioles of the year. This handsome male oriole had an especially brilliant breast that was almost red in places. What a sight on a gray day!
I was very excited to see a male Bobolink, too, who was singing his weird robot-song and snacking on flower petals. I've only seen Bobolinks twice before, and that was a few years ago, all the way back at the Connecticut shore. It's so cool to have these funny meadow-dwelling birds nearby:
A few White-crowned Sparrows have been hanging around our yard for the past week or so, and one fellow in particular frequently takes up a post in the blossoming apple tree outside our window to sing. White-crowned Sparrows only pass through this area during migration, and I'm glad to have these pretty birds as neighbors at least for a little while. Here's a picture of our apple-tree-songster from inside the house on this rainy day:
At this point in my life, the place where I've heard White-crowned Sparrows singing the most was at the coastal dunes in Humboldt County, CA (since these birds breed there). It's been very strange to hear those dune sounds again here in rainy, lush, springtime Central New York! Best wishes on the rest of your journey, little sparrow, when you do decide to move on; and thanks for stopping here for a few days:
A Green Frog was also out and about on this rainy Saturday, settled nicely in a puddle next to a field:
Hooray for spring, when even rainy days are exciting and full of things to see!
It's snowing heavily outside right now, and many places around here (and the roads, too) are closed to wait out the storm. This is only our second real snowstorm of the winter, and it's the middle of March! Have I mentioned that this winter is weird? Yesterday afternoon, while the weather was still calm, a male American Kestrel showed up to hunt along the road next to our house:
A kestrel has been hunting in our neighborhood on and off all winter, and I wonder if this is the same bird. Either way, he's such a gorgeous fellow, and his fancy costume looks especially bright amid the still brown-white-gray landscape. He flew off to perch on the roof of a neighboring house, a tiny raptor on the lookout for a meal:
Somewhere off in the woods, a flock of Red-winged Blackbirds was making a lot of noise. I couldn't easily see the flock, so I'm not exactly sure how many birds were out there, but they were certainly vocal! I don't think I've ever heard so many Red-winged Blackbirds calling at once! Here's a recording:
I hope all these birds (not to mention the Spring Peepers I heard the other week) are hunkered down somewhere safe in all this snow!
On Tuesday afternoon, I drove out to Sheldon Marsh State Nature Preserve to see what this place is like in the very earliest stages of spring. This was only my third time visiting this preserve since moving to Ohio in August, but I feel like I'm getting a pretty good feel for the place across the changing seasons. As with my previous visits (in the fall and winter, respectively), there were lots of things to see!
I'll just dive in with what I consider the most exciting sight of the trip. Turtles! Yes, it really must be spring if there are turtles out and about. And even cooler, these are Blanding's Turtles (I saw two individuals; the second is just outside of the next picture), a species listed as threatened in Ohio and considered endangered by the IUCN because of their declining populations. I've never encountered this creature before, and I love that bright yellow chin:
These turtles were quite large, maybe around a foot long including their heads. Apparently Blanding's Turtles are super long-lived (70 years and up in the wild) and they don't reach maturity until 12-20 years old, which probably isn't helping their population problems. (The much more common Painted Turtles, by contrast, are ready to reproduce after 2-16 years.) I've also read that predation of eggs and hatchlings is a big problem for these guys. Perhaps the two turtles I saw will make some eggs, and maybe those eggs won't get eaten.... I don't want these sun-chinned creatures to go away!
Waterfowl migration is in full swing, and there were plenty of birds swimming around in the ice-free marsh. A variety of ducks were dabbling in the back of the marsh, but I was pretty well entranced by a small group of American Coot -- relatives of rails -- foraging near the path:
Coot! So cute, with that little tail and head:
These birds mainly eat aquatic vegetation, and they must've been finding some good meals in this shallow water. Mmm, greenery:
Coots have so many weird features, like that red knob on the top of their beak that looks so much like a third eye to me in the above picture. And their feet are these big lobed things, all the better for paddling in water and walking on mud:
The lobes fold up (again, weird), but the foot remains large:
These really are quite handsome birds, and I'm glad I got to hang out with them for a bit:
A pair of Wood Ducks foraged close to the path as well, giving me just the briefest of glimpses of their amazing costumes through the reeds. It's kind of interesting to see just parts of these ducks at a time, little details picked out from the whole. Like the male's fantastic green-purple-pink ponytail:
And his fancy painted beak and speckled chestnut breast:
I'm astonished by the colors peeking through on the female's wings:
And an entire pool of the same swirling iridescence -- what incredible color! -- on top of the male:
Yes, these are some pretty amazing birds, in part and in whole!
I was glad to see a pair of Killdeer patrolling the marsh, making me think of the Connecticut shore (where I would be just starting to monitor for Piping Plovers and other shorebirds if I lived there now; sigh):
Several pairs of Canada Geese made a dramatic (and loud) presence. I hope the Muskrats don't mind that one of their many mounds seems to be under consideration as a potential nest site:
The Muskrats seem to be thriving in this marsh. I didn't see any signs of the American Mink I spotted here on my last visit, but there were definitely Muskrats splashing in and out of the water (trailing their weird snake-like tails behind them):
This male Red-winged Blackbird chirped at me from within the reeds next to the path, his shoulder patches demurely covered:
A Red-tailed Hawk landed on a pole and surveyed the marsh, totally confident and comfortable even with people walking by right below:
After a few minutes it took off again:
And headed down the path right toward me (passing over my head close enough that I could hear the small sounds it made with every wingbeat):
Ah, so many cool creatures in this place!
Speaking of close encounters, I'm sure that people hand-feed the squirrels in this preserve (I had a couple more Fox Squirrels walk right up to me) and I suspect that they feed the birds as well. This Black-capped Chickadee flew over and nearly landed on me when I stopped at its patch of the marsh, and then it perched nearby to look me over. Well, if this creature's going to offer me an adorable chickadee photo op, I'm certainly not going to pass it up!
This Eastern Chipmunk also seemed ridiculously confident, peeking out of its hole right on the edge of the path:
Do you have something in your cheek pouches, little chipmunk, or are they always that pudgy?
Another chipmunk across the way must have been working on a nest, with all those leaves in her mouth; she dove into a nearby hole right after I took this picture:
Wow, I really did see a lot of things! And all while getting to be out in the bright sunlight, which did a good deal to make the cold day feel warmer, and made for a lovely misty marsh:
