April 9, 2023: Spring Overture

Happy Easter!  

And with Easter came the early sounds of spring.  It's just the opening overture before the full spring musical arrives, but the early spring songbirds are here and they are singing the opening of the first act as the spring migrants are arriving now in droves.  This week I saw an eastern phoebe, a brown creeper, a song sparrow, a few great blue herons, several robins collecting nest material, a flock of over two dozen American black ducks, and the first pair of mergansers. 

A pair of common mergansers fishes in a sliver of blue water.

Most exciting to see was the brown creeper, a small bird that mostly keeps hidden in dense forest as it creeps up and down tree trunks looking for insects. 

A song Sparrow and a brown creeper glean seeds as the snow recedes.

Brown creepers are resident year round but I only hear them in the summer, and only once or twice have I been able to follow the song to actually see the bird.  But here in spring, there was a single bird collecting leftover seeds below where the feeder had been.

Brown creepers have a long, down-curled beak that helps them probe into bark crevices in search of insects.

The birds are relegated to finding leftovers now that the feeders have been removed for the summer as bears are up and on the prowl, very hungry, and bird feeders are a strong attractant to unnatural habitats.  

The first heron that I saw came flying in low over the still frozen lake and plopped itself down on the shoreline in front of a gap of five feet of open water.  

Just moments before this we thought we saw a duck sitting on the ice near this stretch of open shoreline, but when we looked closely we realized it wasn't a duck, but in fact was a mink.  The mink tramped around on the ice a little bit before sliding off the ice into the water and swimming along the shore out of sight.  But when the heron flew in, that obviously caught its eye because the mink swam right back up that sliver of water and stopped at the edge of the shoreline right in front of the heron.

You can just barely make out the mink to left of the tree reflection in the water.

Upon reaching the shore, the two of them had a stare-down.  

I'm pretty sure a heron wouldn't go after a mink, but less sure that a mink wouldn't attempt to grab a heron, though I think once it encountered that pointy four-inch beak it would regret that decision.   But we won't know because that heron decided there were other places to fish and it flew off to a less crowded fishing spot.

Strong April sun and a brisk northwest wind on Friday started to break up the ice with large cracks forming miniature icebergs.  A few more warm days next week and we may be getting close to ice-out.  Ice-out on Winnipesauke was called on Friday, April 7th.

The ice started to break up on Friday.

Yes, it's the dichotomy of spring.  Remnants of a frozen winter,

A snow-covered trail on Arbutus Hill.

slowly melting away into a liquid spring,

Spring snow melt cascades down a stream in the Hamlin Town Forest.

which the trees soak up to resurrect their eternal life.

Red maple buds getting ready to burst on the next warm day.

I also had a report of spring peepers being heard just south of the Lakes Region.  (Thanks GP!)  That always adds a fine soprano voice to the spring orchestra!

April 17 2022: Our Banded Loons Return

An encouraging sign for our loons as well as the loon population in general appeared this week:  Our mating pair of loons has returned.  I was able to get a good look at the bands on the legs of both the male and the female, proof they are the same pair that fledged two healthy chicks, last summer, Jimmy and Coco.

The female has lots of jewelry, two bands on each leg.

The male has only a single band on its left leg.

The pair will spend the next month or two fattening up on fresh fish and selecting a nesting site.  I've heard sounds of contests with other loons, so there's likely to be a little territory resolution to be done as well.  Last year the various loons resolved their differences fairly quickly and this pair had nested by the first of June; we can only hope this year goes as well as last.  (I reported this sighting to the LPC, and perhaps you saw that they scooped me and put these pictures in their newsletter!)  

On the subject of mating and territory, one day I was drawn from a long distance by the persistent tapping of a woodpecker declaring his territory.  As I carefully closed in on the sound I was amazed at how much noise a small bird can produce.  The downy woodpecker knows to find good solid, dead but dry branch to hammer on which will resonant loudly throughout the forest.  The farther the sound can carry, the larger territory a male woodpecker can claim.  After a long time circling under the tree I was finally able to spot the percussionist, way up high on a dead oak limb.  The video is poor, but you can clearly understand how his signal carries far across the land (click on the video below):

Our list of summer migrants continues to grow, with this week's arrivals including pine warblers, brown creepers, and great blue herons, one of our larger birds on the lake.  Our highly visible raptor, the osprey - also known as the fish hawk - has returned and immediately made its present known by its loud kip-kip-kip call as it flies off from its perch overhanging the lake where it sits looking for an unsuspecting fish down below.  One evening after a successful fishing expedition it flew into our cove and ate its catch in a secluded spot where an eagle wouldn't steal its dinner.  It was dusk and I didn't want to disturb it, knowing it was hungry after its long flight from Central America, but I was able to get a couple of pictures of meal time.

"This looks like a safe spot."

"No one followed me?"

"Time to eat!"

I'm not sure why osprey fluff all their feathers up like this:

Could it be to help them dry off after their dive into the water to catch the fish?

Another of my favorite birds that visit Lake Wicwas in the spring and fall made a quick appearance this week.

Mr. and Mrs. Bufflehead

This is Mr. Bufflehead, I didn't get a decent shot of Mrs.

These birds still have a long way to travel - their primary breeding ground ranges from western Canada to Alaska.  The Lakes Region may be their first fuel and rest stop as they leave their winter grounds along the Atlantic coast.

Last week it was the wood frogs singing, and this week, on April 11th, it was the spring peepers raising a racket in the newly awakening forest.  And as spring unfurls, lots of green shoots are erupting from the earth and buds are swelling, ready to burst open with the next sunny warm day.  And more spring flowers are blooming too!

Crocuses

The season of renewal is here  -  Happy Easter!