Good morning and Happy Friday to everyone! It is a cloudy morning with a temperature of 30F (-1C). I was out early feeding the birds and there was already a large number of juncos out there looking for seeds. And one red-breasted nuthatch was also there waiting for the suet. But last evening when I went out to bring the feeders in for the night it was still quite nice and smelled like spring finally.

It was 8:30pm, still daylight, Jasper was out there chipping, an American robin was in the tree chirping, and… a fox sparrow was also out there feeding on the seeds under the deck. He flew into the bush out back when I came out. That was so nice to see! I love the fox sparrows, they are definitely one of my favorite birds. Unfortunately we only see them for a short time in spring and fall during migration. They have nested in this area, but it is rare.

So it arrived yesterday, April 21. One odd thing however, I have never yet seen a fox sparrow when there has been this much snow on the ground. They do not normally come back until the snow has melted completely. I am showing a picture of one that I took last year on April 21. There is no snow. The snow had been gone for 3 weeks by that time. Anyway, I decided to show other pics that I took on April 21 last year. Looks so much nicer than it does this year!

This morning after putting the food out for the birds it started to snow, heavily. It has stopped now though. We are supposed to get 2 inches (50mm) of rain between this afternoon and Sunday. That should help to melt some of our snow. But then it gets cold again beginning Sunday night. I am hoping that by the first week of May I can walk down to the river again, without snow and ice being a problem. I am hoping.

Getting all that rain will certainly raise the river level considerably, since all that rain will just run off, the ground still being frozen. Juncos have definitely taken over as the most abundant bird out here now. There are more than 200 of them. Still a lot of redpolls too at about 50. That Cooper’s hawk has been here twice this morning, it must have missed the bird on the first trip. I think it was successful the second time, seemed to be after a redpoll.

It all happens so fast it can be hard to tell. Hmm, it must have missed the second time too, it just swooped through again. Unless one bird was not enough, and that is a possibility, they will eat 2 or 3 a day, depending on the size. I would like to get a photo of this hawk though. Oh well. The birds are starting to slowly come back, juncos are the first ones to return. Time for more coffee to get the day going. Have a fabulous Friday everyone and God bless!

Steve and Muffin. (Praying for the people of Ukraine)

©2022 Steve McLeod.