Due to the topsy-turvy ups and downs of the weather, the birds have been slow coming back to our area. Those thoughts came to me as I watched three pair of huge Canada geese grazing the short-cut lawn just back of our workshop. Usually by this time of year, they have nested and young are trailing behind them, but not this year.
The bluebirds came back during that early week of warm weather in March but disappeared for quite some time when the late-coming foot of April snow covered the ground. Shortly after that I saw them gathering last year’s dried grasses to line their nests.
They are great for eating the creepy-crawlies on the ground, so I have driven a stake and put up a house for them smack-dab in the centre of our strawberry patch. I know they will do a good job, as I see them frequently there.
The tree swallows showed up about a week ago, but I have not yet seen a barn swallow or cliff swallow. That could be because they both once nested in the big old barn that was destroyed by the tornado and the new replacement barn just doesn’t come up to their standards. It is my hope that they will perhaps adapt and build their nests in the goat sheds that we have randomly placed in the pastures. I think a robin has already done so, as I see her often lingering there.
The horned lark, meadow lark, and bobolink have all returned to the hay fields, and today I saw a killdeer scouting the newly disked garden area, looking, I hope, for a nesting spot. If that happens, I will, as my father did many times before me, place a stake about four feet away from the shallow nest, but it will not be straight up it will be leaning slightly, indicating the direction of the nest. It will be worked around for the 28-day hatching period of their four speckled eggs. The huge equipment and the massive fields have taken their toll on those open-ground nesting shorebirds, as the operators care little about the plight of those nesting birds.
Highly fertilized triple-cut hay fields have taken a heavy toll on the grass-nesting song- and white-crowned sparrow, as well as the red-winged blackbirds, larks, and bobolinks.
The timing of early-cut hay devastates completely their first clutch of eggs. If cutting could be delayed about two to three weeks later, most of the young would have taken wing by that time.
I was back by our newly cleaned up existing pond the other day, planting a half dozen weeping willows, and as I stopped to listen to a love-struck partridge beating its wings in courtship, I could not overlook the rush of warblers that was taking place in the nearby heavily wooded area. The leaves were just beginning to open, and it was not hard to witness the movement of several in almost every tree.
My eyesight is no longer keen enough to differentiate the different species of warblers, but I can identify the kinglets and small flycatchers that coexist, by their shape and movement.
I also noticed that the trilliums and wild leeks are in full flush at the moment. The fresh smell of spring and a chorus of frogs are what make my old ticker still tick.
Take care, ’cause we care.
barrie@barriehopkins.ca
519-986-4105