Southern Ontario’s Spring Bounty

It certainly took long enough.

After a long crappy winter and an even longer, crappier spring, by early May pleasant weather finally returned to southern Ontario. This, of course, has spurred an incredible amount of bird activity in a very short time. Suddenly, the sounds of chirping birds fill the air and a number of new visitors have begun to arrive at the feeders.

It started with the male goldfinches returning to their brilliant summer plumage. I just love these little guys. I joke about the return of The Yellow Fellow, but the sight of these cheery little birds always confirms that summer will soon be here.

The local robins and cardinals have been patrolling the lawn diligently, even if it needs a bit of cutting. That was very evident when a Carolina wren joined them. The poor thing almost sank in the tall grass. The rabbits aren’t able to keep up with their job of eating it, and saving me the trouble of mowing!

Maybe, that’s because they spend half the day sleeping under our lilac bushes. Lazy bums.

Fortunately, the wrens – two of them so far – have other options when it comes to finding dinner.

The downy woodpeckers have been busy as well. Every day we see pairs and small groups of them chasing each other around, playing peek-a-boo between the branches.

So far the blackbirds have confined themselves to coming to the feeders to eat, and that’s it. They haven’t attempted to make a nest yet, and so far they haven’t attacked anyone. Let’s see how long that lasts.

The big news this month was the sudden arrival of four rose breasted grossbeaks – two males, and two females. Although they’re listed in our bird book as year-round residents in this area, we only ever see them for a few days in the spring and fall. It’s always a treat to see them, though. They’re such beautiful birds.

The other big news was the appearance of a Baltimore oriole. The photo is terrible – it was shot through a dirty window as I was wary of spooking the shy bird after it only just arrived. It’s since been back a few times to peck at the orange halves we leave out. Hopefully, it will stay all summer. Ditto for the gray catbird that showed up in the same day. Perhaps I’ll get its photo next time.

So while it took its sweet time to get here, spring has brought a lot of familiar faces – and many new ones – to the feeders. It’s been a lot of fun, since you never know who’s going to be out there when you peek outside.