Spring is coming! (updated)

Updated Photos 02/28/08

Wake Up! Spring is coming!

From what we've seen lately, it surely seems that Spring will be here soon. Many of the trees and bushes are budding already. We've had a pretty mild winter with a few periods of really cold temps but not much precip. Mostly rain and some snow that doesn't last for more than a day or two.

One of the best indicators of Spring is the start of the migration season. This past week we've seen the beginning of it. First, we saw a flight of Snow Geese heading north on Monday. Then we saw some Sandhill Cranes flights on Wednesday.

But today (Sunday) was the big "Migration Day" with flight after flight of the Sandhills coming up the valley! The noise of them overhead woke us up early. I just had to run out with my camera. I took photos and videos. I tried to capture the sights and the sounds of the event.


There was wave after wave of birds coming up the valley. And the noise was very noticeable.

[I will be uploading the best video clip soon so you can hear the all the noise they make.]






Last week we had a first time visitor in the form of a few Brown Creepers. We've never seen them here before but they make a very sweet sound.


Another rare visitor was this Cockatiel who flew into the yard and hung around the area for a couple hours. He is gray with white edged wings and a yellow head. It was cloudy and windy that day but I could make out the crest feathers on the head and the long tail. I knew it wasn't the usual wild bird. I found it listed in the Sibley field guide. These are usually escaped pet birds.



We also got a little snow one night and these icicles formed on the feeder the next morning.





OTHER NEWS AND VIEWS

One of our biggest thrills was the return of our Red-winged Blackbird "Blackie" to the feeders. We have a resident Starling who has been fooling us for a couple years with his imitation of Blackie's call but we know the real one when we hear it! We have also seen a few Goldfinches at the thistle feeder, both American and Lesser types.




Here is a young American Kestral who had just buzzed the yard scaring all the little birds into the bushes.







This is that elusive Mountain Chickadee. He just does not want his picture taken.






So, that's all for now. Hope you enjoy all the photos.