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April 20, 2006  How Now Brown Spring? The South Cariboo is currently in the grip of Brown Spring, (which of course is followed by Green Spring,) so it must be about time for a detailed inventory of birds now available for sighting. I'll go through the list taxonomically. You can follow along using your trusty Birds of 100 Mile House and Area checklist. What? You don't have a checklist? Most bird guides are laid out taxonomically, so grab the nearest one and lets get started. Common Loons have returned. I've only seen one and it was sitting on the water at Scout Island, Williams Lake. In my Buffalo Creek location, I've heard Loons in flight on two mornings. Grebes are represented by the Pied-billed I saw at Scout island nature preserve during my one visit. Note: These are only my sightings, so there may well be other Grebe species on other water bodies, but I haven't come across them. From this point I won't speculate on birds that might have been - just the ones I've seen. Canada Geese returned awhile ago, but recently long skeins of these birds are passing high overhead bound for much more northerly places. As for spoon-billed waterfowl, Trumpeter and Tundra Swans have been around for a while. Ducks present include Green-winged Teal, Common and Barrow's Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Gadwall, American and Eurasian Wigeon, Ring-necked Duck, Wood Duck, Mallard, Northern Pintail, Canvasback, Redhead, and Greater and Lesser Scaup. Common and Hooded Mergansers also returned some time ago. In the hooked-beak department, (not real avian categories) I've seen two Harriers. A lone Cooper's Hawk circling over the shop is the only showing of these capable hunters. Usually the Cooper's and Sharp-shinned have buzzed the feeder birds many times by now, but not this spring. A Northern Goshawk which I suspect calls this area home, has appeared on a number of occasions. The Red-tailed Hawks returned some time ago and now that ground squirrels are out of hibernation I expect the birds to be looking a little more contented. An Osprey circled over 100 Miles new Sewer lagoon. Bald Eagles have returned to the eastern-most nest on this property, and I have already seen one of the adults scrunched down in the nest as if incubating eggs. Oddly, the mature birds, usually very protective of their nest site, have allowed two immature eagles to cruise about. I suspect they are last year's nestlings. I believe that I glimpsed a Kestrel sitting in the tattered fringe of remaining trees around the new sewer lagoon. As for the Kestrel's cousin, the Merlin, I've seen them at the house, and in the traditional town nesting area near the water filtration plant. I caught a fleeting glimpse of a Peregrine Falcon when it passed over me about 20 feet in the air and moving so fast that I was left with only a phantom impression of its identity. Sandhill Cranes returned a few weeks ago. Every morning they make themselves known by bellowing from the skies in voices reminiscent of pterodactyls. Even when flying so far off that their legs are not visible, the flight of Sandhills is unmistakable. They appear to lift their wings at one speed and push down at another speed. This gives the Sandhill Cranes a strange snappy flying attitude. I saw my first American Coot this spring at Scout Island, but now that ice has come off the pond about half a mile to the east, I'm also hearing Coot calls from there. Killdeer, as usual, were early. I recorded my first spring Killdeer about March 3rd. As for shorebirds, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs have been striding about the small ponds to the east for a few weeks. This morning a Common Snipe, which has allowed the dogs to walk within 3 feet, made sure to leap into the air and let out a scratchy call just as I was right beside it. The Long-billed Curlew over the pastures is an impressive sight. At first I suspected its cry was a Goshawk. Finally I looked way up, (just as I once did for the Friendly Giant,) and there was a large bird heading away. As I gazed skyward the bird silently returned, sailed back toward the house, set its wings and prepared to land. I could now see its long down-curved bill turning this way and that. I saw a Ring-billed Gull on the ice of 100 Mile Marsh, it has since disappeared. Small Owls are scarce if night calls are any indication. Some years they raise a fuss with their combative 'tooting' but this year I've only heard a Saw-whet on a few nights. Three Belted Kingfishers squared off at the big mudslide area on the creek. I thought it would be the males terrorizing each other, but two females were involved in an ongoing chase that looked like it could get quite nasty if one caught up with the other. They flew low and oblivious to the rest of the world. Their bills are so long that I imagine this type of flying is akin to running with scissors. The only Woodpecker that doesn't like our winters, the Red-naped Sapsucker, returned a few weeks ago. And now their numbers have grown. Flickers, sometimes choosing to stay all winter, are now numerous again. A Western Meadowlark sang early one morning but moved on. Though there are big fields around I think they need more long grass to be truly happy. I always await the Swallows return. Tree swallows precede the others - and did so again this year. A few days ago 6 Tree Swallow hangers-on were joined by a lone Cliff Swallow that over-nighted in one of last year's mud nests. I heard the Violet-green swallows in town last week and this morning, down by the big mudslide area, another species of Swallow zipped about. It was either a Rough-winged or a Bank Swallow - I still have a hard time separating these two in flight. A bird that I didn't see this spring, and wonder about, is the Winter Wren. Normally I encounter several along the creek before they take to their usual haunts in the tangled areas of the forest. Golden-crowned and ruby-crowned Kinglets are back sifting through the evergreens for food. The Ruby-crowns, incredibly loud singers for their size are not yet into full voice. The Mountain Bluebirds are back and so is their relative, the Townsend's Solitaire. Some Solitaires stay around all winter but many leave. Another relative, the American Robin, has established itself once again and in this yard, many lively battles, both by song and chase, fill the day. Varied Thrush have slipped away to their spruce swamps and many continued their way north though I heard a few sing only two days ago. European Starlings have returned though some of them often hang about all winter. The Warbler clan is represented by one species, the Yellow-rumped which appeared about 3 days ago. Song Sparrows made it to the creek willows a few weeks back and one only has to be over the edge of the pasture to hear their songs. I stopped to listen to the variation in their productions in recent days and must declare that even individual birds are capable of a variety of outpourings. Luckily, or oddly, I hear bird song as shapes which allows me to mentally compare, in some detail, what I hear. Within 3 songs I hear a single bird change portions regularly and from bird to bird there is a great difference. One constant sound seems a part of most Song Sparrows songs. It reminds me of a small gas powered, water-cooled motor for a circular saw. When shut off the motor didn't stop immediately but puttered out. The last sound it made was that of the action going back on itself, a sort of compression sound in reverse with a slight squeak of a resisting belt or metal part. That is the sound included in most Song Sparrow songs. This morning, to my surprise, the first White-crowned Sparrow of spring jumped out of a juniper bush. This is probably the beginning of hordes of these birds flooding our area while migrate through. Later it will be impossible to find one around - though last year I did find a pair nesting in the industrial area on Exeter Road. Dark-eyed Juncos still flitting about but not in the great numbers of some weeks back. Red-winged and Brewer's Blackbirds have returned. Red-wings that find a feeder may tarry through winter as may the odd Brewer's but their numbers swell in spring when the majority return. A male Goldfinch came to the feeder briefly and has not been seen since. Purple Finch are numerous at the feeder and were joined for two days by a male Cassin's Finch. The absence of Evening Grosbeaks has been so long that many people suspected the birds met with some horrible end, but not so! They are visiting my feeder on a daily basis, and now it is as if they had never been away. And that about wraps up the spring bird return news to date. The total number of species here, including those birds with us all winter, is about 85. Many birds still wait for the landscape to green up before putting in an appearance, but they too are south of us with their beaks pointing northward, and their wings flapping. To e-mail Tom CLICK HERE To look at previous column CLICK HERE |
