Good morning to everyone on this beautiful Monday! How are you doing today? Ready to bring out those smiles and pass them on to everyone around you? Well, just a suggestion. We actually had some rain last night. Meaning it rained hard enough that I could hear it on the roof. A spring kind of rain. It sounded so nice to hear that. Yesterday morning was so weird. I put the bird feeders out at 6am.

The gulls were here for their breakfast, and so were the crows. But no other birds. 7am and still no other birds. Then came 8am and still no other birds. It was beginning to make me wonder what had happened to them all. At just before 9am I saw my first chickadee. Within about 10 minutes of that the redpolls started to show up. And show up they did.

There were more than 300 of them that showed up. That was amazing. I have not seen that many redpolls this late in April before. They obviously came in overnight since they were not here on Saturday. All congregating together and feasting, getting ready for their trip to the far north. They go all the way up to the tundra country for their nesting.

They are going to have a short breeding season this year. Just like we are going to have a short summer, and an even shorter spring. Without snow that is. I am not sure what has happened to all of the blue jays around here. There were 17 last fall, that dropped down to just Baxter and Betty for most of the winter. Two others joined them for a while about a month ago, but now they have disappeared again, so it is just my two once more. Very strange.

Too early for them to be nesting yet. So I am showing some blue jay photos today. Their beautiful blue brings bountiful brightness to any Monday. I guess it is time to get those feeders back outside again. I can hear the gulls talking out there already too, waiting impatiently for their breakfast. Have a most wonderful Monday everyone and God bless!

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

©2022 Steve McLeod.