Good morning to all! It is a nice morning, though it feels a bit chilly with that strong southeast wind blowing out there. Oddly, even with a southerly wind, the temperature is not going to get very warm today, and even colder tomorrow with the temp staying around 32F (0C). And we might even get more snow tomorrow. Though I certainly hope that forecast is wrong. Oh well. It finally happened! Yesterday at nearly 4pm I heard a familiar call outside and there he was, Sir George! And Lady Pearl was sitting up on the hydro pole.

So I took some food out to them and they both came down to the feeder right away and were not the least nervous about having me stand out there talking to them. It was like they had never gone. I am showing a photo of Sir George. They are herring gulls, a very large gull and the largest we have in this area. Herring gulls generally come back first, followed by the ring-billed gulls, a much smaller though almost identical twin. Those are the only two gulls we have here.

I know, most people do not get very excited about gulls, but I like them. They are the first real sign that winter has past and summer is now not far away. Such a nice thought. So anyway, I like them. They look beautiful with their pure white soaring against the deep blue of the sky. Europe has these gulls too, perhaps other areas of the world too. But the European herring gull is a bit different. They look the same, but they are a bit smaller and their call is more shrill, higher pitch than our herring gulls. Kind of interesting to see the differences like that.

Not much bird activity again. There are quite a few redpolls again this morning, around 50 of them, about double what there was around here yesterday. And a few chickadees, 2 red-breasted nuthatches, 2 white-breasted nuthatches, 2 blue jays and now my 2 herring gulls who have already been here for their breakfast and have now gone out flying around again. My other gulls have not shown up yet though. The evening grosbeaks have not been here this morning and only 6 showed up briefly yesterday.

It has gotten cloudy. Something has scared the birds again, some flew away, others are just sitting motionless. I cannot see anything out there, but a hawk must be around somewhere. Jasper and Jasmine were here earlier this morning spending their time looking for sunflower seeds that may have dropped from the feeders. They always seem to find some. Well, thank you for joining us today, have a wonderful Tuesday and God bless!

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

©2022 Steve McLeod.