Favorite sign of spring: redwing blackbirds

They're back! Today's wonderful sound: the trill of the red-winged blackbirds. The green fuse is igniting. But first, we have to get through another couple of days of rain. We're under a heavy rainfall warning - again.

Thanks to dobak at flickr for bird photo.

© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

First day of spring: cold again, my birds are back

The creek today: the flooding usually lasts just a day
Amazingly, yesterday we hardly saw a bird. Then today, we had flocks of birds on the property. If I were a bird photographer, I'd have pictures of them.

From the kitchen window, I saw a woodpecker, robins and a blue jay, all within seconds of each other on the same oak tree. Then, while out on our walk, we finally heard them and saw them: the redwing blackbirds are back! We also saw flocks of cedar waxwings and robins (both drawn to our crabapple trees), not to mention, alas, hordes of starlings.

I sure hope it warms up for them all. Today's temperatures hovered around freezing all day, with the wind making it feel much colder.

Not looking or feeling the least like spring
© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

Red-winged blackbirds are back

We heard our first red-winged blackbird call yesterday, and my heart melted. I just love red-winged blackbirds: aside from flowers, of course, they are my favorite sign of spring.

Something about them has wormed its way into my soul. Their call, which admittedly is not the most beautiful of bird songs, has a lot of resonance for me. I think it's because they were a part of my childhood. Their habitat is agricultural areas with wetlands, and they were plentiful on the farm near London, Ontario, where I grew up. The farm had a creek running through it and ponds nearby.

Our property also has a creek and we have a couple of ponds too, and there are many ponds at the neighboring golf course, so red-wing black birds are abundant here.

It struck me that in all the years of living in cities I hadn't heard or seen them much. When I heard them again when we moved here nine years ago, I felt that I had come home.

Go to Whatbird.com to hear a really nice recording of the red-winged blackbird's call.