Although there is a foot of snow still left to melt on the field and about two feet in the bush, a robin appeared today for the first time this year. It was hunting worms in the bare ground areas around the house, and it found one! Temperature today is + 9 C.
The robin is the first spring bird species I have seen. I say "species" because I saw what amounts to a flock of redbreasted nuthatches a couple days ago. We have local nuthatches here all winter but we only see a couple at a time. There were about a dozen in the group I saw prowling around the leaves in my tractor trail so I figured these were spring migrants.
Temperatures are about normal for this time of year in the Nolalu area which means we could start seeing bare ground out in the open in a week or so. Now we need to steel ourselves for the inevitable snows yet to come.
Ain't Life Wild is a blog about the plants and animals of Northwestern Ontario, the environment, climate change and life in the world's largest ecosystem, the Boreal Forest.
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4 comments:
I saw a robin today also
There are one or two robins that spend the winter in Thunder Bay and area, according to the birdwatching column in the newspaper. Other than visiting bird feeders, they apparently live on dried berries. We have never had a winter robin at our feeders. Actually the only unusual bird was the Harris's Sparrow last winter.
Any Hairy or Harry redpoles this year?
Matt
We haven't seen a redpoll all winter nor any pine or evening grosbeaks. These are all normal winter birds here. No one has a clue as to where they are. Now Canada geese have arrived. I saw them on the Kaministiquia River, at Stanley, Friday. I haven't seen any flocks overhead yet. The weather is pretty close to normal for this time of year. People are falling through the ice, always a sign of spring. My guess for Red Lake ice-out at this juncture would be May 15.
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