Wednesday, 8:00 AM. 39 degrees, wind NW, calm. The channel is wrinkled. The barometer predicts partly cloudy skies, presently blue with some high thin white clouds and more cloud cover on the eastern horizon.
The big news is that the hummingbirds are back, we saw two yesterday at the feeder and one is there right now. They are as predictable as the legendary swallows of Capistrano, but no saint’s day seems to be involved. Our hummers are the ruby throated, although there are occasional reports of the western rufous hummer. Our birds may have wintered anywhere from southern Florida to Central America or the Yucatan. If they cross the Gulf they may fly 500 miles non-stop, and are incredibly fast. I don’t think anyone knows when they left for the north breeding grounds or how long it took them to get here. People say they send scouts ahead which report back to the main flock, which makes sense to me, but I have no idea whether that is true or not. At any rate there are always a few birds in advance of the main body of birds.I am trying to get a few camera shots of them at the feeder but they are not very cooperative.
We finally got another thistle seed bag and the goldfinches and chickadees are elated.
Today I will stake out trees for the playground at the lake front for Arbor Day tree planting.
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