They'd been arriving in dribs and drabs for about a week, the birds. A vanguard of brave water birds, clustered in ditch puddles; bald eagles, northern harriers and owls perched high in the spruce trees, surveying the land for signs of prey; the odd seagull, looking a little lost sailing over the frozen rivers. I imagine these first birds sending confused envoys a few hundred kilometers south, not sure what to tell their waiting friends.
Then, on May 10th, an explosion of song! That morning we had a large mixed flock of sparrows in our yard: white-crowned sparrows, dark-eyed juncos, chipping sparrows, lapland longspurs and fox sparrows. I spotted a warbler I couldn't identify, and heard robins broadcasting themselves from the tree tops. A confused sandpiper touched down in our yard for a brief moment, just as surprised as I was.
I love waking to bird song each morning. Such a gift!
Sounds just like my backyard right now! I even saw a lone sandpiper fly overhead. We have been feeding the birds all winter, so the visitors are now eating all of the castoffs on my lawn from the picky redpolls.
ReplyDeleteMy boys are learning the names of all of our visitors this year. Hunter, our oldest, has been running up to me describing every new bird he sees. A naturalist in the making!
That's awesome about Hunter!
DeleteOur white sparrow (well more likely a junco) hasn't been seen in close to a month or more. They're our winter birds. Maybe he's headed your way. Along with the robins. Yellow bunting and eastern blue birds, oh and blue jays have arrived here. The color they bring adds to our green.
ReplyDeleteOh, I love blue jays! We don't get them up here. Just the gray variety!
Deletewhat a treat! how exciting! have you seen the movie 'the big year'? it's a great film about birding, even without birding interest.
ReplyDeleteI have seen The Big Year. Did you know part of it was filmed here, in Tombstone Territorial Park? We had all three of the stars in town for about a week, causing quite the stir. They built a set and everything way out in the middle of nowhere, for what I hear was about 45 seconds of film in the movie!
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