Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Wednesday, March 18. 2009

Must be the hours of daylight

Or maybe the angle of the sun. It surely isn't the temperature here (below freezing at 5 am) which made every local bird wake up this morning and begin singing or twittering his territorial song for the first time this year.


I heard Robin, Tufted Titmouse, Chickadee, Carolina Wren, Cardinal, and Song Sparrow singing. Most migratory breeders won't be here until the buds pop open, and the tree buds aren't even swollen yet.


Today was really just a warm-up for the welcome Springtime morning chorus to come. It will last the next 6 weeks or so. Once their eggs are laid, they tend to go quiet so as not to attract attention.


Photo is a Tufted Titmouse, a fairly common songbird in New England.

Posted by Bird Dog in Natural History and Conservation at 08:45 | Comments (7) | Trackbacks (0)

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I suspect the birds see the UV in the sky, which happens long before visible light.
#1 Ron Hardin (Link) on 2009-03-18 08:55 (Reply)
Same species are also active here (northern neck, VA) early in AM but generally only after first light. Have also heard pair of Barred Owls past few evenings/nights. Our Carolina Wrens are particularly LOUD. When it was warm last week (& windows were open) we heard the "peeper" frogs at night; such a soothing way to drop off...
#2 dhmosquito on 2009-03-18 09:43 (Reply)
Boy and I marveled at the orchestral maneuvers in the early morning light today. Mother and I saw several flocks of geese overhead this morning, looking for open water, perhaps? Also, the woodpecker in the wood was hitting on a particularly large, hollow tree, filling the morning with a pleasant sort of jackhammering during our morning constitutional.
#3 The Distributist (Link) on 2009-03-18 10:29 (Reply)
BD, Do you get any blue birds? I don't know if its my location, or what, but I get lots of them every day. Started in February and still have them. Last winter I had them from January till March. I have been very lucky. My neighbors don't get them at all. Only a stones throw seperate our feeders. Any thoughts?
#4 jappy on 2009-03-18 12:35 (Reply)
Can't ID a single bird song but I do know they've picked up their activity over the last few morning walks. And it is starting to smell of spring. Next comes the look of the trees and other foliage. It's starting to feel a lot like springtime.

I love the changing of the seasons, especially winter to spring and summer to autumn.

I lived for a while out in CO where spring and autumn lasted about 18 hours each. I didn't care much for that. Of course when deep into a nice, long summer I didn't think about it.
#5 Knucklehead (Link) on 2009-03-18 13:08 (Reply)
Bird song is one of the best things about spring. It's my favorite alarm clock.
#6 Retread on 2009-03-18 16:27 (Reply)
Plenty of breeding Eastern Bluebirds at the Farm. They pretty much seem to stick around all winter, eating frozen berries.

And yes, we have geese on the move overhead here, too.
#7 Bird Dog on 2009-03-18 18:40 (Reply)

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