Rancho Colibri at sabrarmijo.com

Well, here it is March already! Spring is well on it's way here. Things are blooming and noses are sneezing! On the bird front, we watched the spring migration begin on February 14th. The sky was filled with hundreds of Sandhill Cranes winging their way North. Since then there have been more, smaller groups flying over on the warmer days. Temps this week are in the 60s!

New sightings on the Rancho. The White-winged Doves have returned. They are more common in this area now but don't stay here in the valley over winter. Same goes for the Red-winged Blackbird who just returned on Sunday (3/7). There is a European Starling living around here who has been practicing his imitation of the Red-wing call. He has fooled us more than once as he gets better, but it is good to see the real deal in the yard. His real call is much prettier! Now the real highlight of the week, the return of the Ringed Turtle Doves! They are listed as only being found in California, in the LA area. A pair showed up last March and caused quite a sensation here. Now they have returned. Guess they like our little rancho.

Oh, yes. The chickens, Mazey and Chicken Little, have begun to brood again. They each have their own nest and lay one or two eggs a day. Unfortunately, we only discovered them last Thursday. There were already about a dozen laid. So now we try to get the newest ones each day. I guess we are now in the egg business! But we don't really know anything about it. I need to find someone around here to help us out with how to handle the egg thing.

Of course, everyone is on alert to spot our first Hummingbirds. For us here in the Intermountain West, the birds arrive usually in early to mid-April, later than the West Coast, but they stay longer -- to mid-October. I was speaking to the people at our Wild Birds Unlimited store today and they asked if we had seen any hummers yet. One of their ladies lives in the mountains east of town, and she usually sees some of the first ones. (She is a certified hummingbird bander.) So, it's time to clean up the feeders and lay in a 50 lbs. supply of sugar for the season. Afterall, we are on Rancho Colibri -- that's hummingbird in Spanish!

TTFN, more when there is something to report. Please visit the website and give me your feedback.