Sweet sounds of Spring

 

 

A fitting song for spring.  'Nest' by Ruth Moody,  one of the sweetest voices (and songs) that I've ever heard.

Sounds of spring migration are changing the feel of the landscape again.  Our first red winged black birds arrived last week.  Their 'chunk er EEEE' sounds have always been the first sounds of spring for me. The returning geese astound us with their speed as they fly over our fields on the way to neighbouring ponds.  Although cardinals have been here all winter, the males are singing their extra cheery mating songs now.  The cooing mourning doves will start waking me up before dawn, and soon they will start nesting on our house.  I think the one pair we had last year raised three or possibly four clutches, despite pounding rain and stifling heat. 

Sandhill cranes have been returning to the Midwest for several weeks now, but we didn't have our first sighting until March 17th, the day before yet another snow storm.

 



 

 

Just the other day I was commenting to G that we'd better get the nest boxes cleaned up, and I wonder when the first turkey vultures and eastern blue birds would return?  Turns out they arrived on the same day! It's impossible to be grumpy when you hear that ridiculously cheery little song.  They've been wintering in Arizona and right through Central America. 

 

 

 

 

The turkey vultures remind us of Vancouver Island, where dozens of them will soar on thermals just waiting for the right conditions so they can make the jump over the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State when they begin their fall migration.  Truly amazing fliers. 

 

We're expecting more snow tonight, but the melt and flooding has already begun.  Typical spring. The paddocks and fields are a mess, and the ducks are ecstatic about it.  I'd rather continue looking up.