The Spring change of cast members has just about completed here. Juncos are gone, Black-Chin hummies are here, Chicadees are nesting, Robins are courting, Mourning and European doves are cooing, and Hairy Woodpeckers are hammering. I'm already seeing opened goose eggs on my golf course, but no chicks out yet. (The eggs fool me into thinking I've found a free ball, only to find a shell.) Many ducks and geese call my golf course home.

I have maybe a pound of winter feed left from my little Junco friends. I'll leave that feeder out a while in hopes the Chicadees and Wrens find it, but when that's gone, I end that food supply in favor of the hummingbird ones. Juncos and Hummies are my most favorite little birds, and it is quite satisfying every year that the last of one always coincides with the first of the other.

The cattle egrets finally showed up yesterday. Over two weeks late.

Sandhill cranes have been here for over a month.....lots of them.

Hastings, When I worked for NASA at Kennedy Space Center, the plenitude of birds was always a highlight for the VIPs I toured. The resident biologist told me that cattle egrets are an African species that presumably arrived in the Gulf Coast states by way of a hurricane that they got trapped in and blown clear across the Atlantic. They managed to fit seamlessly into the local ecosystem (unlike so many other invasives) and thrive here now.

Chickadees were tweeting sweet spring all yesterday.... still snowing today.

We're experiencing the typical waterfowl stop over. They should head out in about a month.




All the other small dickie birds as well. Spent a little time yesterday evicting some English Sparrows.

Wife said she heard an oriole this morning. I hung outside and listened for an hour but nothing.
We've hung the hummer feeders but it's early yet.

I tend to notice the more colorful birds but haven't seen much yet this spring.

Saw my first osprey of the year this morning cruising above a bay on the south side of Lake Ontario. Too high to have been fishing, it was just slowly flying around. Had the binocs on it for maybe half a minute and got a pretty good look.

Still not many of our usual summer residents here yet--mostly migrants. We do have a couple of pairs of Black Chinned hummers, but the rest of the usual suspects haven't put in an appearance. A little surprised that the orioles aren't here yet. Only things breeding are the House Finches and the Sparrows.

The Goldfinches visiting my feeders are almost completely into their breeding colors. No Hummers yet.

Yesterday I noticed most of the nesting platforms had the Osprey owners back. Last week the Turkey Buzzards started showing up. A few Blue Herons have returned and I see one of the neighborhood Robins has started working on it's nest in the neighbor's carport. Blue Birds are just returning to their boxes out along the country roads-----
and of course it is snowing! Oh yeh, the Mourning Doves are back, and the Sand Hill Cranes are noisy.
And I think I spotted the Easter Bunny today,

Ken

Lots of redwing blackbirds and grackles over the last couple of weeks, last weekend we had a northern mockingbird hanging around the bird feeder.

Heard my first Meadowlark of the season, the day before yesterday! memtb

Heard the first flock about 3 days ago.


Meadowlarks have been here for a week.


Robins showed up about 2 weeks ago.

We’ve got bucketloads of birds and butterflies out now.

Almost all our common summer birds are back. Still waiting on the tree swallows and hummingbirds. This winter I had several bluebirds at my feeders all winter eating the suet. I have a few bluebird boxes in my field and always have at least 2 breeding pairs in spring, early summer. But this is the first year I've seen any winter over. At the same time, I used to get evening grosbeaks every winter but I haven't seen any in years. I liked them around but they sure could empty a couple of feeders in a hurry.

I don't know of anything bad that cattle egrets do. They follow the cows around catching the horse flies. They are so quick at it you really have to watch to see it. They eat grasshoppers and if you get an army worm infestation they let you know by ganging up on them well before you might notice the damage. One good thing Africa sent us.

Hastings, maybe my memory is off but I don't recall any cattle egrets in north Louisiana prior to hurricain Carla in '61 and they went back south after a while. Camille pushed a lot of them up here and many stayed. Been here ever since.

I did a search and found claims that the egrets reached South America in the late 1800s. I was born in 1952 and I don't recall seeing them until the late 60s. Whenever they got here they have pretty much been a blessing.

What is a medium sized 12-14"wing span woodland (ground dwelling/feeding) Bird with a back and dorsal wing surface pattern similar to a black rail? (Red-brown with white spots/flecks). Quiet, didn't burst like a grouse, from the posterior in flight view had a M-profile. Never got a look at its head but it went quietly from ground to trees...

Helps to know what part of the country you're in.

Geno

Cranes have been back about a month now. I get serenaded by a pair or two every morning and evening.

RW blackbirds about the same. Meadowlarks 2 weeks now, saw a pair of bluebirds looking at a box about the same time frame, but they seem to have left. Smattering of Brewer's blackbirds. Saw a swallow about 6 days ago, bunches at the local refuge the other day. Black necked stilts and cinnamon teal there, along with a pile of gulls. Killdeer in our neighborhood too. Robins overwinter here, feeding on the juniper berries, most have left for the forests now. Same with the juncos, a couple of pairs here. The big flocks of Pinyon Jays have broken up, we have a pair or two still hanging around for the peanuts I put out. Waiting to see the Say's phoebe and Townsend's solitaire show up, if even for a few days. Spotted towhee was here for a day or two.

No hummers yet, but if they're in Utah I better get the feeder out.

Wildflowers are blooming though.

Geno

We have blue wing teal on our hunting lease in South Louisiana by the hundreds if not in the thousands. Taking a break headed back north.

They are as hard to photograph as they are to shoot.

Started to see robins, then the meadowlarks, followed by wood ducks and long billed curlews in the last few weeks. Snow and 17*f this morning but warming back up next week.

Cow birds are great for eating the bugs around cattle, but are heck on baby quail. I've never seen a cow bird eat baby quail, but I've seen them eat a lot of mice while I was rotary mowing pastures.