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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

The Birds are Back


Yesterday was another wild one. We had about every kind of weather they make for late winter here in NY.
The sun shown.
It rained.
It snowed.
It was cold and dark.
The sun came out again. Our little creek could be heard from the house as it enthusiastically moved melt water downhill.

The stove needed some TLC around noon so I went out with some assorted kindling material (denim scraps from quilting burn quite enthusiastically). As I stood in front of it amid drizzle and flakiness I heard a sweet singer, first of his kind for the year. Normally a few song sparrows hang around all winter. For the past several years a very tame one rummaged round the heifer barn yard, singing right at us from the fence as we walked by and fluttering out from under the truck right at our feet.
However, this year I haven't seen one since maybe last November. I think the tame one may have died or moved along, because the one singing at the stove was different. Lighter colored with a much different song. However, it sang from the same perches as the old one and seemed to want to cheer me up, as it circled right around me, trying out trees and bushes for a new sound stage.

From behind the hill I could hear hundreds of red winged black birds, the biggest flock yet this year (and only the second one I have seen or heard). They set up a din back there as long as I was moving logs and shoveling ashes.

Geese are back too. I think this is the first recent winter that even the resident geese were forced to move south as I haven't seen any in months. There are still only a handful, a gaggle here, a pair there, but I am sure before long there will be thousands. Soon we will have robins, although they seem to show up quite late here on the south side of the river. This is kind of a hard time of year, trying to get by with only one tractor and praying that it doesn't get stuck (no way to tow it out.). Calving is starting so Liz won't be getting much sleep, although the boss will do the midnight checks and she will nap daytimes. Milk prices are so bad I have never seen worse. Four farms off our truck are out of business now and another neighbor sold out to the Amish.

The birds don't care. They are burning their bridges and getting ready to nest, devil take the weather. Maybe they know something we don't.



Global warming here at Northview Farm.
And here is a good post on the topic at Carpe Diem. Be sure and check out the comments.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had a flock of the red-winged blackbirds, too. They covered the ground under the feeders.

Sorry to hear about the local farmers. It doesn't bode well, does it?

R.Powers said...

Just yesterday a flock of blackbirds were moving through my forest.

Earl said...

Change happens, that many red winged black birds made me cringe - having been attacked by a male during nesting season - and I thought he just didn't like his reflection on my bald head. A little of every kind of weather every day, just testing the keyboard for the Spring Summer performances... I think the birds do have a message - let's get on with it. Hibernation time is over, but my wife put a Winter comforter on the bed yesterday as she hid from our last snow storms.

Jan said...

Those completely delusional continue to drown out sane voices.

Anonymous said...

I love the photo collage! We have one goose that's back and looking like he just might have taken a wrong turn somewhere or fallen through a rabbit hole.

Sharkbytes (TM) said...

Our first bluebird was here yesterday, but he showed up in time for rain and more snow!

Anonymous said...

Fred I have a tractor you can borrow if you need it!!!!
The birds are back down here in NJ geese are aready pairing,and looking for nesting spots.
Love ya
Matt

Deb said...

Everytime I read about another farm going out of business it breaks my heart. My goodness, what is this country going to do without farmers? Where in the h**l do they think milk comes from?! Sorry - rant over....

No red wing blackbirds or geese here yet but we did have a Robin. It was setting in my flowering crab, pecking at the frozen crabapples...I try to believe that is a sign of spring but we are having weather like you...sunny and 50 on sunday, 30 and a whiteout yesterday.
Not sure whose the looniest, me or the weatherman!

Anonymous said...

I just said to your Father this morning that I hadn't seen or heard the grackles and blackbirds who usually wake me up spring mornings with their chatter conferences. "Look out the window" he said. The bank was covered with flocks of them all day. The new windows just make it quieter in the house, so I don't hear them. The crabapples are all gone and so is my robin. Grey day today, and cold and damp. I hope no major Marach snow storm for this weekend. Mom

Ed said...

Don't ya just love springtime in NY? I have only seen single Blackbirds not a flock...

Anonymous said...

Yes, the weather has been freakish. It's pouring now, floded barnyards and mud to suck my boots off.
I don't know my birds (except the ones that live in the house), but I've heard the regulars begin their spring song - that is a refreshing sound!

Windyridge said...

Yep we had the redwinged harbingers of spring too. Hoorah! I'm about done with this winter altho' I hear we are in for some more snow. Ugh.

Dani said...

I'm seeing less migrant flocks around town, so they're definitely making their way towards you.

threecollie said...

Akagaga, there are a lot of them now and we finally got a robin this morning. He didn't stay long though...probably blew away

FC, bet they are on their way to visit us!

Earl, spring seems to be in give and take mode these days. It was fifty for a while today. Now the wind is howling around the house and almost knocked me down when I was on my way in from the barn!

Jan, sad, isn't it?

LInda, thanks. We had one loner too, but mostly ever increasing flocks. Saw probably fifty this morning

Shark, bluebirds!! That is delightful! None here yet.

Matt, you are such a sweetie! Love you. We saw a pair today down on the curve/pond/swamp area on Corbin Hill. What I wouldn't give for a little bit of shoulder on the road down there so we could take photos. They were staning on the ice, side by side, one keeping watch, the other with its head under its wing

Deb, it is so bad this year. And last year...and the year before. We have lost so many neighbors....

Mom, we finally got a robin today, but this wind is ferocious! Proverbial March wind.

Ed, once you have spent March here you'll never forget it. lol

Teri, it was so sweet to hear a robin chirping up on the back lawn this morning. It was so gloomy that it was hard to see him, but I knew him by his call,. Then he flew down to the house for a positive ID

WR, I guess it doesn't want to let up yet. What a wind today!!!

Dani, it is so good to have them coming back. I finally found some reasonably priced sunflower seeds today so the feeders get filled tomorrow. I've been out for most of the past week, but I won't pay ten bucks for a teeny tiny little bag!