It’s official! We are in the middle of the main bird migration season. Having been teased for weeks by tiny Kinglets and Brown Creepers, it is a thrill to see the larger colourful birds coming through. Many will be with us until mid-summer but now is the time to see (and hear) them as they announce the official end of winter.

The lack of leaves on the trees make them easier to spot but it is difficult to photograph these beauties high in branches.

Here’s what I came up with this morning:

Scarlet Tanager:

This is only the second time in 13 years that I have seen Red-headed Woodpecker during these walks:

Baltimore Oriole:

Rose-breasted Grosbeak:

A less colourful bird that will be with us for months is the Warbling Vireo.

Species list: double-crested cormorant, Canada goose, mallard, red-tailed hawk, spotted sandpiper, ring-billed gull, mourning dove, chimney swift, ruby-throated hummingbird, belted kingfisher, red-headed woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, red-bellied woodpecker, downy woodpecker, northern flicker, great crested flycatcher, least flycatcher, eastern phoebe, barn swallow, blue jay, American crow, black-capped chickadee, white-breasted nuthatch, American robin, blue-gray gnatcatcher,  ruby-crowned kinglet, European starling, warbling vireo, black and white warbler, Nashville warbler, yellow warbler, ovenbird, house sparrow, red-winged blackbird, brown-headed cowbird, Baltimore oriole, scarlet tanager, northern cardinal, rose-breasted grosbeak, house finch, American goldfinch, white-throated sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, song sparrow.  (45 species)

White-crowned Sparrows seem to be with us for about a week in spring as they head north. Whoever invented the bicycle helmet must have a had a good look at this bird.

Some park scenes and other nature:

This morning’s group in 15 degree, overcast and windy conditions:

NATURE POETRY

Loveliest of Trees

A. E. Housman, 1859 – 1936

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now   
Is hung with bloom along the bough,   
And stands about the woodland ride   
Wearing white for Eastertide.   
   
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,   
And take from seventy springs a score,   
It only leaves me fifty more.   
   
And since to look at things in bloom   
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go   
To see the cherry hung with snow.

Miles Hearn