Bird songs, snow storm, and critter entertainment....

 April 27, 2025

Spring is here...but whoops!...quick rewind. Last night we were in a full blown snowstorm. Big, fat, soggy flakes were flying by sideways in front of a vicious north wind, that ranted and raved for most of the night. The snow started falling around 4 PM. Tree limbs started to whiten, then the ground began to whiten, and then it got too dark to see. Later the snow turned to rain and could be heard pounding on the metal roof. The reward for enduring that, is that today is a clear sunny day and temperatures are rising into the low double digits, 12C (54ish F) by noon, although the wind is still quite strong. Puddles have formed again where snow-melt puddles had just soaked away.

In the bird department, Ruby-crowned kinglets are here, Northern Flickers are foraging all over the clearing, probing the ground. They are doing the lawn aerating for us!! One took a break in front of 'Bird Cam', and posed.

This morning, we heard the Northern Water Thrush back in the bush. That is the first thrush to arrive. Earlier in the week, we heard the soft 'zee-zee-zee' of the first warbler to arrive, the Yellow-rumped. Whip-poor-wills are here, the first ones heard on Thursday evening at dusk, and the unmistakable 'pweenting' sound of American Woodcocks can be heard at dusk and dawn.

A couple of other shots off of 'Bird Cam',

Dark-eyed junco,

White-breasted nuthatch,

and one of my friendly little Chickadees. I think he/she is asking me where the ball of nesting material is. I'll get right on that!

Frogs are at full voice now, and there were quite a few sounding off around the pond last night, even though it was snowing and blowing. 

Deer have been wandering by trail cameras, some of them looking very lean and scruffy. This past winter was not as easy on the deer herd as the previous winter was.

This one seems to have suddenly noticed the camera.

Foxy is being less secretive about his/her visibility. Perhaps there are hungry mouths to feed now, and food gathering is a priority. We've seen a fox in daylight several times.

One evening last week, we were entertained by something going on in the back yard. As dusk falls, one or the other of us takes a meander out to the back porch to have a look out and see how many deer are grazing in the back yard. On this particular evening,  there were two deer just this side of the larger solar array, near the edge of the gravel pad in front of the garage/shop. The deer were not grazing heads down as normal, but making little darts forward, ears alert and front facing, tails swishing, flashes of white in the dim dusk. There was a small shadow near the ground...foxy was tormenting the duo. He made little running feints toward the deer, hunkered down and even rolled over at times, playing like a cat. The deer made quick little dashes toward him, and he'd dart away, only to come back and repeat his maneuvers. He was definitely playing, but we aren't sure if the deer were appreciating his efforts!

 

New songs, new shoots, new life....

 April 21, 2025

Spring is really burgeoning now. Almost every day a new bird migrant arrives, and today we started the 'goose wars'... Pairs of Canada Geese are insistent that they want to take over our greening grass and full pond. We have chased them off, protesting loudly, several times today. 

Deer migrating back to their summer stomping grounds are having a stop-over, and grazing every evening on the greening grass in the yard. One evening at dusk we counted nine deer grazing around the barn like cattle... and sitting up above them all, on the top of the Tree Swallow's nest box pole, was our resident Barred Owl. There are two deer who show up even at mid day, and we think they may be the same pests who kept sampling my gardens last summer. Plans are in the works for an electric fencing project around the gardens.

As far as birds migrants go, Golden-crowned Kinglets are here, as are Field Sparrows, and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are tapping insistently in every direction. In the bush, the Winter Wren is serenading, it's song so long, one thinks it might have to gasp for breath at the end! Northern Flickers showed up yesterday, and just a few days ago the Tree Swallows swooped in suddenly, mid-morning. Their happy chittering was so effervescent that they made me laugh as I watched them fly loops around the clearing before checking out the nest box. Yesterday afternoon, a sunny and warm day, I heard the clacking of Wood Frogs in the vernal pools for the first time, and later in the evening, the first lone Spring Peeper was making the odd, questioning call. 

Today is much cooler, the temperature struggling to reach 7C (45F), then dropping back to 4C (39F) with a chilly wind and a few showers of cold rain, so don't expect to hear frogs again until it gets warmer.

This weekend I dug a few of my over-wintered parsnips, a bit gnarly to clean, but they cooked up so sweet and delicious.

Garden plans are on-going, my warm weather seedlings are green and healthy under lights, and cell packs of brassicas are sunk into the  earth out in the cold frame, hardening up as they grow, the lid lowered at night. The in-ground hot frame with the lid just slightly shimmed open, is growing seedling lettuce, spinach, two different seed onions and leeks. The leeks will be a new adventure for me this year, as I've never grown them before. The leeks and onions are in starter packs, and will be transplanted to the garden beds once they are big enough. Out in one raised bed, overwintered spinach has resurrected and is putting out leaves that are almost big enough to harvest. The garlic has suddenly shot up an inch or more, pushing through the leaf mulch.

This parade went by one of the trail cameras over the past week,

and this old tree stump, left from thinning in a nearby pine plantation, caught my eye as I was wandering through.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying your Easter weekend.

From snow to blooms....

 April 14, 2025

 This was the morning of April 8....

And this, a previously bare road, on my afternoon walk.

Trail camera pictures of the deer moving through, before the snow...

During,

and a picture off of the same camera...after.

It was quite a dumping, combined with strong winds. It took a few days to melt away, as temperatures stayed in single digits, but now they are on the upswing. This past weekend, the mercury reached 15C (59F) and higher, with lovely sunshine. That fresh snow then melted rapidly, and now the residual snow from the winter on north facing places, and in the bush, is shrinking visibly from one day to the next. 

The Eastern Phoebe arrived just before the snow, and obviously weathered it well, as he has claimed his perch on the barn roof and is serenading regularly. Song Sparrows have just arrived, and yesterday morning we had a small flight of Evening Grosbeaks show up at the feeders. On Thursday evening at dusk, we heard the first American Woodcock at the edge of the clearing, setting up his display stage.

As for the deer, the migration back to their summer grounds is on with a vengeance. The road up the hill is absolutely riddled with tracks, and they are appearing morning and evening, out grazing on the grass of the clearing, which has started to actually look just a tad green. We took a walk through a neighbour's oak bush yesterday, and the deer have been scuffling the leaves up all around the bases of the trees, hungrily hunting for acorns from last fall.

This is a picture of the emerging tulip shoots....the deer found them before they were barely an inch out of the soil. We've since installed a fence around that flower bed and are seriously contemplating setting up an electric fence to encircle the food gardens this year.

Despite their propensity for wreaking havoc on my gardens, they are such graceful creatures.

A moose came through by a camera late last week. The amount of snow in the bush has diminished greatly, even since this recent picture.

Our ravens cruise over the 'treat rock' daily, checking to see if we have left out something for them. Here one of them has snagged a piece of chicken skin, probably there is a nest somewhere with hungry fledglings.

Garlic is up.

Pussy willows are fat and furry.

Now with rain in the forecast, things should really take off.

 

It's time for....

April 6, 2025

 ...a cease and desist order against Old Man Winter. 

We have been riding this weather roller-coaster of snow, melt, snow, melt...and are preparing for more snow this coming week. Out in the open, a sunny warm day melts the fresh snow down rapidly, and the winter snow pack recedes a little bit more. There is still a foot of snow in the bush in most places, and walking is treacherous, on trail or off. One never knows when a foot will plunge into hidden melt water, or step into snow over the boot tops, so rubber boots are a necessity. 

Thankfully, we were north of the ice storm that came through Ontario last weekend, the worst of it landing south and west of here.

There was a layer of ice on everything, and sun light was reflecting off of the shining, ice-crusted snow.
 

Central Ontario is still out of power in places, as the ice weighed down lines and broke poles. On Thursday afternoon, the wind grew suddenly strong here, and walking anywhere on the road or in the bush would have been suicide, as branches and whole trees were coming down. A later drive down the hill showed it littered with large and small branches, and in several places, the township had had to chainsaw big trees off of the road. 

So, more winter is coming... we re-filled the porch wood box this morning, got another pail of kindling up from the barn, and refilled the bird feeders.

But, there are signs of spring advancing. Maple sap is running well, our maple syrup collection is growing, (pancakes and fresh maple syrup for breakfast yesterday), and we heard a warbling/cooing Sand Hill Crane fly over this morning as we were moving wood in. 

In the sprigs and sprouts department...

Crocus colour, daff shoots, and tulip nubs.... Yes, I know...you have to look hard!

Of course, under lights, my peppers are doing well and tomatoes have just emerged.

 Over the past week, the deer have been dispersing from their winter yard, and the migration trails are well tramped out. Last night we saw the first deer in the yard at dusk, and there will be many more showing up to graze, as the grass greens up. This doe wandered by a trail camera.

This wild canine has shown up again, checking out one of the deer trails that cross our trail, but in daylight this time.

This is the back yard and pond this morning.

Who knows what it will look like after tomorrow night's forecast snow?