Spring Has Sprung 2024

It was a relatively mild winter, with long rainy thaws in unexpected places. Spring came early but decided to stay and stay. So cool, rainy days after a lovely 20C bit somewhere at the start of April. Everything is hovering around 10C to 15C these days.

The ice went out on or about April 19, after lingering for days looking fragile and past its best-before date.

The first loon was heard (by me, others may have heard it earlier) on April 18, while the ice was still covering all but the edges of the lake. There proceeded a very long week of lonely loon calls and receding ice, followed by a joyful carillon of two-loon joy beginning April 25.

The coltsfoot is in vibrant bloom, whether or not we want it.

A beaver swam past the dock a week or so ago, and deer were running down the length of the lake not long before the ice went out. WW looked out the window and said, "Oh dear!" Turns out he was saying, "Oh! Deer!"

And birds. Seriously, birds.

There are, of course, all the usual suspects: black-capped chickadees, nuthatches, dark-eyed juncoes, American crows, American robins, Canada geese (sporadic and few so far) and turkeys...so many turkeys. But there's more going on.

The woods are alive with ruby-crowned kinglets voicing their loud, lovely song. When they allow space, the yellow-rumped warbler, northern flicker, chipping sparrow, song sparrow, pine siskin, eastern phoebe and northern water thrush all pitch in.

I know all this because of the wonderful app from Cornell University: Merlin. It identifies birds by their songs. You can click on birds you've recorded and see a photo and brief description. Who had ever heard of a water thrush?? Merlin had.

The hummingbirds have reached Hudson, QC, so it's time to unlimber your hummer feeders, if that is something you do. Apparently, these wee birds return to the same feeder(s) year after year, so don't disappoint the little jewels.

Just so it's not all rainbows and unicorns...mosquito at the gate today.