Friday, March 16, 2012

Spring Has Arrived!

It's been a while since I blogged about what was going on around here.  I haven't had a lot of time to get out and go birding.  It's spring, though, so that will hopefully change soon.  I have seen a couple of spring migrants coming through. 

I've got a pair of Purple Martins that have come back after taking a year off.  They have been here consistently for the past two weeks.  I'm watching for them to start taking nesting material into the nest.  A pair of Eastern Bluebirds has built a nest in the nestbox outside of my bedroom window.  The nest is almost complete, and they should have eggs in the nest within a couple of weeks.  I have my sparrow spooker ready to install.  On Monday, a pair of Swallow-tailed Kites flew over the house heading north.  I didn't see one last year, so it was nice to see them again.  Hopefully I'll be able to get out on Monday to see if I can find any Northern Parulas, Black-and-white Warblers, Yellow-throated Warblers or other early migrants. 

I bought and installed a Barn Owl box.  I'm really hoping they find it and use it.  It would be great for rodent control around here.  It was one of the scariest things I've done in a long time!  Being up 13' on an extension ladder on a wobbly 4x4 post is not my idea of a good time!  But, it's done and it's ready for them to use! 


With all the rains recently, both ponds are completely full.  I installed a Prothonotary Warbler box at the new pond.  I'd love for them to use it!  That would be a lot of fun to get some good pictures with my BirdCam.

I am going to start filling my feeders in the woods again and maintaining a birdbath down there.  Hopefully I'll get some good pictures of migrants again this year.  I quit filling the feeders and birdbath because a raccoon kept getting to the feeders and knocking them down.  I have a BirdCam with a flash on it so maybe if it happens again, I'll be able to figure out how he is getting past the baffle.  I would love to get some more pictures of the migrants on the birdbath.  Hopefully we don't have the insane south winds like we had last year that blew many of the migrants right over us on their way north.