Tree Swallows

[Bluffs Birder]

Was out at Colonel Sam Smith Park yesterday for a walk and saw 6 Tree Swallows darting about...another good sign that spring has sprung.  

Walter

[norman]

An unquestionable harbinger! I remember, when I was the 'dorky kid with the binoculars' (I would stick 'em under my jacket after climbing back up The Bluffs -- then-deserted, honestly, but we're going way back in time here), one of the many things
most folks thought that a robin sighting was the Real Thing ... I should look up stuff on when they started overwintering (and surviving) ... where was I?

Oh. Well I figured that that was how it was in my early years, but a chance friendship with a bird-person lead to exchanges about bird things. After he got less violent, we started coming up with questions not addressed in Peterson?

One topic -- turned into a contest -- was, "What's the first real returning non-quacking/honking migrant?" Being a parulid fancier (still am), I, at first went with Myrtle Warbler (bad choice); he went with another passerine. After a time, I went with Killdeer ... I don't know of any who stay, unless frozen, with one leg tucked away, to a mudflat, but am I right?

I saw a photograph years ago of about nine tree swallows just stuffed into a bluebird house, because of a nasty cold snap. A lot of them die if it lasts too long. They survived, and switched to a fruit diet until the insects were up and flying about.

So, I'm interested to know peoples' different "It's Spring!" birds, and how their species change as time goes by. Then there's the species you really want to see, usually mid- to late May ... a blue-headed vireo would go down nice, maybe in a couple of weeks ...

I wonder if we'll have a few "Big Waves," exclusively on weekends, this year?

[Bluffs Birder]

Hi Norman,

With living very close to the Scarborough Bluffs, my "It's Spring" bird is the Red-winged Blackbird.  The parks along the top and bottom of the Bluffs are extremely quiet until the return of the male Red-wings...then, it's just as noisy as a casino!

The "Bird Of Spring" that I'm eagerly anticipating the return of is the Warbler, any of them, but especially the Blackburnian...what a beauty!  Don't know how I'd never seen a Warbler before last spring considering I've been around for over 4 decades, strange really.  I guess if you're not lookin', ya don't notice.

Walter

[Bird Brain]

Hi Norman,

With living very close to the Scarborough Bluffs, my "It's Spring" bird is the Red-winged Blackbird.  The parks along the top and bottom of the Bluffs are extremely quiet until the return of the male Red-wings...then, it's just as noisy as a casino!

The "Bird Of Spring" that I'm eagerly anticipating the return of is the Warbler, any of them, but especially the Blackburnian...what a beauty!  Don't know how I'd never seen a Warbler before last spring considering I've been around for over 4 decades, strange really.  I guess if you're not lookin', ya don't notice.

Walter

Walter ... Yes, same here re: Red-winged Blackbird.  It's truly not Spring to me until I've been dive-bombed and head pecked by a male Red-winged Blackbird which actually happened VERY early this year back on March 18th at Lake Aquitaine out here in Mississauga.  

I love seeing Warblers - truly beautiful birds!  Usually once you see that first Warbler during the Spring, lots follow!    Can't wait to see what this year's "first" will be!

Jo-Anne