It’s funny when a comic strip happens to mirror what you’re thinking. It’s time for some birds other than raptors to start appearing.
Last evening was beautiful, the wind had died down and there was a nice promise of new birds arriving. We hope that they’ll stop here before heading north across Lake Superior to the distant Canadian mountains.
A freighter heading towards Sault Ste. Marie.
The waxing Moon was a good omen of things to come.
Large numbers of birds had arrived overnight. Besides little groups of flickers, there were flocks of Chipping Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows and Black-capped Chickadees.
There were 16 Yellow-shafted Flickers on the lawn in front of the Shipwreck Museum.
Most of the flickers got along well.
But there’s always somebody who doesn’t play well with others.
When the first raptors, like this light-morph Rough-legged Hawk showed up I headed back to the Raptor Roost, my own observation deck to watch migration.
It wasn’t long before kettles of Broad-winged Hawks started appearing.
Some of the kettles were more distant than others.
As time passed the numbers grew.
Until birds were streaming by in huge numbers. But late afternoon I had over 1700 broad-wings pass. Mixed in were Turkey Vultures, Bald and Golden Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks and more.
Not all of the snow is gone. There are still patches in swales and the woods. It will be interesting to see how much longer the snow stays.
A fin al “cool” insect of the day was a group (100s) of Collembola, the genus of wingless insects that includes the snow fleas. We usually find them on the snow in late winter. These were however on the rocks at the base of the cabin. I thought I might have to wait another year before seeing them.
More tomorrow…
Michael's Place 