Robin Report and Some Spring Silliness

They're back!!!

My husband and I saw our first American Robins of the year on March 10th, as we were driving along our road about 3 miles south of our house.  The next morning on my walk, I kept watching and sure enough, there were two at our place.

One of my field guides says "This species is one of our most familiar birds".  As it is with familiar things, they can be easily taken for granted, so I decided to see if I could learn more about Robins.

First, I went to two of my favorite books. 

Yes, they are children's book, and no, that is not the silly part... I really do like these books!

Both books had this interesting piece of information about Robins:  They can eat 14 feet of earthworms a day! What an engrossing tidbit.

Almost everyone has probably watched Robins eating earthworms in the warmer months, but what are they eating this time of year?  The ground is still mostly snow-covered and frozen here.  Worms don't seem to be readily available!

The answer is... they eat berries and fruit, like this one is doing.  He was eating the hips from a multiflora rosebush.

He didn't look quite as comfortable doing this as Robins usually look when they are hopping along on the ground, but he was getting the job done.  (I say "he" because the males are usually the first ones back.  There is not too much difference in the appearance between male and female Robins other than the females are a little paler.)

One thing I learned about Robins that I didn't know was that they have an expandable esophagus they can store food in.  So on a cold winter (or even spring) afternoon, they can stuff it with extra berries or fruit to eat when they need the calories during the long night.

Last March, our Robins were eating apples that had made it thru the winter.

Wow, that would have been a lot to fit in an expandable esophagus!

This morning I saw more Robins... a flock of 13, in fact.... on Friday the 13th!  Thirteen might be a lucky number for them, since the oldest recorded Robin lived to be 13 years and 11 months old.

Here are some of the flock from this morning:

If you'd like to learn more about our American Robins, including why they are named that, you can read about them by clicking here.

Of course, you know that Robins are thought of as a sign of Spring.  I would agree, but the birds of my childhood that meant spring had arrived were Red-winged Blackbirds.  We had a small creek that I walked by on my way to our school-bus stop.  I would be excited when I saw the first blackbirds there each year.   Even now, many years later, I still listen and watch for their arrival... and this morning was it!

I was out feeding the birds and some Blue Jays were making a racket, but I thought I heard a different voice... sure enough, it was the "O-ka-lee" of a blackbird.  The photo above shows one Blackbird (there were 2) and one of the robins.  

I already know that by mid-summer, when our swamp is full of Red-winged Blackbirds, their singing will be causing me to think: "Please be quiet so I can hear the other birds".  Such is the fickle human heart!  But for now, mine is happy they are back.

Some other birds I actually wasn't expecting back yet were in the swamp, too.

Our first-of-the-year dates for Mallards are typically in March... but, after there is more open water!

There was a tiny bit of water on March 9th, the date these photos were taken, but not much.  In the photo above, you can see the top of the head of a Mallard drake (slightly to the right of the hen standing on the snow).  He was in the water, and that's how high the snowbanks were on each side.  She seemed to express her displeasure in this situation by taking flight.  "Those silly drakes said it was time to come back here!"

She didn't go far on that flight, but I haven't seen the three ducks since, so I think they decided to go somewhere else, at least for the time being.  I don't blame them-- this is how the swamp looked that day:

Since then, we've had a bit more water open up...

and other critters are taking advantage of it, like this muskrat:

I watched him for quite awhile late Wednesday afternoon.

He was eating something, and then seemed to be taking a bath.  Seriously!  Well, maybe that's silly, too. 

Off he goes...

It was so nice to be able to go for a walk after supper (a good thing about day-light saving time) and enjoy the warmer temperatures.  The sun was going down and making a shadow of our house, and palm trees (just kidding, but they do sort of look like that, don't they?).  A strange person is waving.  You can also see the muskrat if you look closely just above the peak of the roof shadow to the right.

I hope you've seen some signs of spring (and that you are so happy about it that you can be a little silly, too).

Spring Sparrows and other Spring Things!

Happy First Day of Spring!

There are a few more signs of spring happening here, and it sure is a welcomed event!  In the last few days, I've seen these signs...

More birds, and this one's for you, Sara!

The first Fox Sparrow I saw this year was on March 18th.  We see them on their northward journey to their nesting grounds in Canada.  

This one was enjoying the seeds underneath our bird table.  I don't think they sing until they arrive at their final destination, at least I've never heard one that I know of.  "What does the Fox Sparrow say?" you ask?  Click here if you want to hear their song.  It's really quite lovely.

They get their name from their color - especially their tail, is a pretty 'foxy' red.

But they can be identified almost as much from their behavior as their looks.  They 'spring' around a lot, trying to kick up food, as you can see from this video:

The next day, March 19th, I saw my first Song Sparrow of the year.

This morning, Ruby and I heard one singing when we were out for a walk.  You can listen to their song here.  Does it sound like "Madge, Madge, Madge, put on your tea-kettle, -ettle, -ettle"?  That's one phrase people have attributed to it.

Here is a video with a Fox Sparrow on the left and a Song Sparrow on the right:

Besides these two kinds of sparrows, other signs of spring I've seen are: a chipmunk out and about up in the woods:

My snowdrops are starting to bloom...

and the ice on the swamp is giving way to a little water... even though it measured 17" thick in one of the spots my hubby dug to check it a couple of weeks ago.

A muskrat found something green to eat and enjoyed it on his own small 'iceberg' in the middle of that stream!

And of course, the Robins and Red-winged Blackbirds that I've mentioned in other posts.  So, even though as I look out the window on what the calendar says is the first day of Spring and I see snowflakes in the air-- the birds and animals are telling me that Spring IS here!

Close Encounter of the (Slightly) Unexpected Kind

This time of year (around Memorial Day) if I see a deer, I usually try to look for a fawn nearby.  So, when I saw a doe near the path to our swamp late yesterday afternoon, I decided that after dinner, I would check the area.   I didn't see a fawn -- (there could have been one but they can really hide!) but as I walked along the path, I saw something else pretty special.

Our beaver swamp has cycled over the years... we've had beavers (and a good beaver dam and lots of water) then the beavers have moved on and the area dries out a bit.  Then beavers move back in and repair the dam and on it goes.  This spring the water level has been pretty low and we weren't sure if we had any beavers.  Then my husband saw one, and I also had one slap its' tail at me when I was kayaking.  So we knew they were there. But they've been very low profile... not cutting trees and not working on the dam as "eager beavers" have in the past.  

Last evening, I saw several muskrats as usual.  Then, along came a beaver!  A muskrat (in the back) and the beaver (right in front of the muskrat) crossed paths in front of me.

 Muskrats can be kind of funny.  They will be swimming along merrily on their way, then they suddenly see you and make a quick turn and swim off in the opposite direction.  Beavers usually disappear pretty quickly once they see you, too.

Not this one!  It came swimming right over to towards me.
At first, I wondered if it could be an otter, because otters are curious and will swim towards a person to check them out.  We have had otters before in the swamp... and even on land, like this one I happened to catch in photo a few years ago.

 It quickly became apparent that what I was seeing was a beaver though, by the way it swam.  (Muskrats are smaller and their tails go from side to side.  Otters undulate thru the water, beavers swim flat on the water, but you usually can't see their tails like muskrats.) 

This beaver came right over to near where I was standing, and started posing for photos.!

"Want to learn why I have orange teeth?  Click here."

At first I stayed still, but it really didn't seem to care that I was there.  I moved around a bit for some better photos.  

"This is my best side... photograph me from this angle, please!"

It swam around in circles a couple of times, and slapped its' tail at me twice.

"Are you still there?"

 But for the most part, it just watched me.  I guess... since I've read that beavers have very poor eyesight!  They are supposed to have much better hearing and sense of smell.  Click on this link to a very interesting website about beavers if you'd like to learn more about them.

Maybe it has a lodge along the bank under this pile of brush, but usually they have a home back farther in the swamp.  At least the beavers in the past have.  I can't get back to that area now with the kayak, so it's hard to say.  

This is how close I was standing while I was watching:

Finally, the beaver even seemed to get tired of watching me and was just lazily floating, with its' tail visible.

"Here I am pretending to be the Loch Ness Monster!"

Okay, Mr. or Mrs. Beaver, good night!