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March 08, 2007  In Like a Snail I have this long-held belief that the end of February marks the beginning of great bird changes in the Cariboo. So ingrained is this idea that I literally tear open the door on the morning of March 1st expecting to see a yard filled with Dark-eyed Juncos, Varied Thrush, Robins, and above, squadrons of Canada Geese passing over in waves. This year was different. I tore open the door open as usual only to be greeted by silence and the usual winter birds. I tried again on March 2nd and on March 3rd. By March 6th I simply opened the door to confirm that nothing had changed. So surprising were these March bird doldrums that I was driven to search through piles of reference books for the little green hard-covered book in which I keep a compilation of annual sightings. I flipped to March and sure enough there were Robin sightings on March 1st in 1996 and 1999. And not just Robins; there were swans in 1996, and rumours of Canada geese in 2001. Yes, I sometimes set down rumours. I continued to read. On March 2nd 1998 a Varied Thrush was spotted. In Centennial Park 1999 there was a Merlin, a Robin, Canada Geese and Varied thrush. In 2001 a Robin was spotted, along with Grey jays gathering nesting material. I clearly remembered the Grey Jay pair back by the old ski hill across the creek from town. One pulled at the top of a thistle plant tugging fluff in bunches. After gathering a mouthful it flew to a nearby spruce. I was aware that the big thistle fluff would contain a substantial number of attached seeds so I wasn’t sure if this was a food caching, or nest building enterprise. I wrote it down as the latter. On March 3rd 1986 Starlings were hanging around nest cavities, and Geese were recorded in 100 Mile House. In 1981 Juncos were seen, (as they were in 1999,) along with 4 Swans, and Varied Thrush. Varied Thrush also appeared on March 3rd, in the year 2000. Over the course of many years March 4th seems a little shy on bird notations, but March 5th had many sightings including Juncos and Varied Thrush, and in 2001 and 2003 the first spring song of the Mountain Chickadee. I noted the sound as ‘chick-a-d-dee-dee-hee-hee’. I have yet to hear that sound this spring. On March 6th of 1986 I noted Juncos singing, but I’m sure the sound was actually a Varied Thrush. I realized only a few years ago that it is the Varied Thrush which makes the ‘tin whistle’ call. In the year 2000 I heard a House Finch sing and recorded many Junco sightings. All the foregoing brings us up to today, seven days into March 2007, and I have not yet recorded a single sighting of a Canada Goose, Varied Thrush, or Junco - from a birding standpoint, March is definitely coming in like a snail. I can’t blame the weather. For the last week we’ve been under a mild flow of southern air, snow continues to melt, and nighttime temperatures barely dip below freezing. It is prime bird-influx weather. This morning, March 7th, I definitely adopted a wait and see attitude upon opening the back door. As half-expected, there were no new bird sounds, however things were soon to change. While I had my coffee in town this morning, someone pointed to the north. Eight Canada Geese wheeling over the snow-covered pasture. They turned west and eventually passed right over the restaurant. I finally recorded the first Canada Geese of 2007. Later when I walked past the marsh I spotted a few pairs of Canada Geese standing on the slick, water covered ice surface. Spurred on by the Canada Geese sightings, and despite the brown oxfords I wore as footwear, I decided to walk al the way around the marsh. The trail, once compact hardened snow, was softening in the milder weather and I slipped and slid my way along the path. Suddenly I heard the song of a Varied Thrush. Or was it? Now I heard a variety of Red-winged Blackbird calls from somewhere out on the cattail edge. They had returned as expected some week’s ago. I stepped back onto the main trail and once again heard the Varied Thrush song. This time it was backed by several other Varied Thrush singing, all still out of sight in a stand of Spruce trees. It is a bit of a stretch to call the song of a Varied Thrush a ‘song’ since it sounds more like a bow saw blade being drawn across a strip of metal. Nevertheless, when it’s the first Varied Thrush song of the year, it is music indeed. I continued listening to the Thrush and heard a virtuoso bird begin singing from a tall spruce to my right. I looked but couldn’t see the singer. The song, however, tumbled down in garbled sweet phrases punctuated by an occasional unmusical ‘zeer’ sound that betrayed the music maker’s identity. It was a House Finch, seemingly out of place here in the forest, and some distance from the heart of town where I usually expect to see them. I circled the marsh and stopped to watch the wary Canada Geese watching me. This morning, March the 7th was beginning to shape up like previous year’s March 1st’s. In bird terms this represents a one-week delay. With global warming I thought that migration and nesting times would speed up not slow down. Could it be that the birds set their clocks back a week to compensate for climate change? It’s not as ludicrous as it sounds; some members of a species that name itself the smartest on the planet actually think that moving the clock an hour ahead creates more daylight hours. To e-mail Tom CLICK HERE To look at previous column CLICK HERE |
