Spring at the Homestead
spring has definitely sprung here at the homestead, and the trees and foliage is waking up, although we’re seeing average temperatures well below normal so everything is behind schedule. That also means our winter visitors have left or are leaving, and we’re seeing what will be our summer residents showing up. Around the feeders, the Fox Sparrows left about a month ago, and it looks like the white-throated sparrow took off in the last ten days. I expect we’ll see them again as we approach winter again, but for now, they’re headed to their breeding grounds.
We’ve seen a nice influx of other species at the feeders and around the property, as well. First to arrive were the early Rufous Hummingbirds, and then the American Robins showed up and started singing. Many Robins. Loud Robins. In a nice way, really. We’ve had a flock of Pine Siskins move in, almost as many as the ubiquitous Dark-Eyed Juncos, along with at least one and probably two pairs of Purple Finches. The siskins are kinda bratty and sloppy eaters, but the juncos, who prefer ground feeding, don’t mind. The Varied Thrushes continue but seem to be in fewer numbers, perhaps because we have nesting happening, and the Spotted Towhees and Song Sparrow are still around. We had a lone Yellow-Crowned Sparrow arrive and hang out for a few days, but I think he’s moved on, I haven’t seen in for a bit. Great-Horned Owls are hooting in the early morning nearby, and yesterday, we had our first American Goldfinch at the feeder, a nice, bright male. We’ve heard them in the trees, but first time one’s come into view. I have finally gotten some decent shots of the black-capped chickadees because they don’t stay on the feeder at all, but grab and run; it turns out adding a water feature helped slow them down. We lost the woodpeckers (four species!) that were visiting regularly during the winter after having to take feeders down due to the bears, but in the last week, we’ve had our first Northern Flicker return, so I’m hopeful we’ll see more.
I’ve put up a couple of bird houses, but so far, no takers — not a surprise for the first year. I have a couple more including a purple martin house and an owl box (screech owl sized), but also, thse are kind of long term investments in improving the bird habitat here and you don’t always get birds using them year 1.
My time away from the house to bird continues to be limited, but I’m hoping to start making sure I get out at least once a week, but until then, I’ve been enjoying the view and watching the changes as we move well into spring.
