Birds and the weather.

tcreeley · May 9, 2014

The RT Hummingbirds are a little late this year in comparison to last year. Cooler. Same for the tree swallows. The intermittent frosts seem to have held them south of us in the Augusta region along the river from what my son says. Nothing in our area.
I saw 5 lessor yellow legs earlier this week in a flooded field with some mallards. Today I saw my first two kildeer in a field on the way to work. Spring is slowly establishing itself, but I loaded the wood stove last night after roughing it for a few day! I like the indoor heat. The daffodils are just out, along with forsythia and some colts feet on the edges of gravel drives. The snow drops are getting ready to finish up this week. But the siberian sqills are just getting going.
More rain tomorrow. I haven't even gotten into the garden as yet- not fully dry.
The birds are singing every morning with the light. I heard a brown thrasher earlier this week- reminds me of my childhood in the Berkshires! We just need a towhee now!

/pine · May 9, 2014

The wood thrushes (the sweetest song in the woods) started singing here about 3 weeks early...
the rose breasted grosbeaks only stayed a day or two...the indigo buntings are here in numbers but not all stay the summer...

deerseeker001 · May 9, 2014

this has been a old fashion spring we haven't seen in years.

tcreeley · May 10, 2014

Rain today, started early. 55f at 10:30. It is wet -good for staying to the dry places. Up the road, the cowslips are growing in the wet areas between the trees along the side. As a kid they used to grow in the pasture where the cows had walked on a wet day, leaving sunken spots for water to collect in, hence their name! Here in Maine I see them in the woods -spruce for the most part, in areas that collect water in the spring. Skunk cabbages are getting going.
A flower I miss is the bloodroot, a delicate white flower, with leaves that folded up every evening around the central stem and flower. The sap was red. It grew on the low turn of a dirt road I lived on where the water collected in puddles in the spring and when it rained.
I haven't seen one in Maine, but the bloodroot of my childhood is still to be found in the same place some 50 years later, everytime I pass through the area. View attachment 374539 View attachment 374540

rekees4300 · May 10, 2014

Had Rose-breasted Grosbeak on our feeders yesterday. They are rare around here.

View attachment 374541

Tollster · May 10, 2014

deerseeker001 said:
this has been a old fashion spring we haven't seen in years.

Pretty much the same here, slow to warm up but consistent improvement in the temps. So far no late frost that have damaged anything.

Saw a pair of orioles yesterday, working the Cleveland pair blossoms, and a pair of indigo buntings this morn.

tcreeley · May 10, 2014

Our tree swallows are here this afternoon and the rain has dried as the sun is shining, very pleasant. Coming into the house I heard what sounded like a cowbird, and earlier today, after the rain I heard a solitary vireo singing without much enthusiasm.
Once every few years I see an indigo bunting over the summer. The rose breasted grosbeak is a beautiful bird, haven't seen one yet. -Still early for us for orioles.

Jstpssng · May 10, 2014

tcreeley said:
Our tree swallows are here this afternoon and the rain has dried as the sun is shining, very pleasant. Coming into the house I heard what sounded like a cowbird, and earlier today, after the rain I heard a solitary vireo singing without much enthusiasm.
Once every few years I see an indigo bunting over the summer. The rose breasted grosbeak is a beautiful bird, haven't seen one yet. -Still early for us for orioles.

The sun hasn't made it up this far yet,

but we enjoyed a good soaking rain that stopped around noon. I finally finished pulling taps (with a little help from my neighbors, who were tired of looking at them).
The frogs were croaking last weekend but I haven't heard them since Sunday. I confess I don't know my birds like you do, I ask the lady up the road what they are when I hear one singing.

cantfly · May 11, 2014

hi, her in Queensland Australia, we have a saying... The number of Black cockatoo's one see,s relates to the number if days it will rain surely rain in the near future... _there are a number of variations to this... amount in inches... -how many days untill rain... etc.., I have lived throut Qld and it seems they are all somewhat true... more so in Cape York, i noticed....
and as for watching the various types of ants... wow... they can predict a huge cyclone, 4 mths in advance... This i KNOW as true...
But Thoughts on the cockatoo thin would be interesting.... and yes i know it rains more in Far North Qld... but still, the numbers seem uncanney...
Cheers T.

teejk · May 11, 2014

Birds started piling in here last Sunday. At a given point in time I counted 13 male rose breasted grosbeaks. A few towhees and brown thrashers. From my shop windown I thought I spied the hummingbird "scouts" at the bird bath so the "kool-aid" feeders went out. Wasn't long before a pair of oriole males showed up for a drink and the next morning I counted 6 males (orioles don't stay long here). Hummingbirds are starting to show. And just this morning our first pair of bluebirds arrived to open up their summer house. Unfortunately the cowbirds arrived also.