AN AFTERNOON of FIRSTS

Today was the first time this year that...

... a grackle perched on the Buddha's head. He (the Buddha) doesn't look like he minds (and that white on his shoulder is just a reflection!


...there was a cigarette boat (or, as I call them, a "James Bond boat") ripping across the lake!


...I saw a returning songbird. I heard a Flicker the other day, but this Hermit Thrush was the first new arrival I saw!


...it was warm enough to move the cactus garden from the bedroom to the porch, because it won't be too cold to leave it there at night. It seemed odd at first to have the Buddha sleeping so close to prickly cactus, but they are the only plants my cats won't chew on. And he (the Buddha) doesn't look like he minds that either.

GETTING READY FOR THE MIGRATION

(click on photos)

Living within sight of Point Pelee, I see a tremendous increase of migrating birds in my neighborhood. While many are passing through on their way to the mosquito-rich boreal lands, all the summer residents of SW Ontario will move back into their summer residences, build nests and look for food. Since I feed birds all winter and much of the summer, too, I like to make it as safe for them as possible. Soon I'll be moving the main seed feeder away from the lilac bush and back to the red maple by the breakwall. That means it's time to renew the "anti-window strike" system on the back windows. This consists of horizontal lengths of clothesline across the top and bottom of the bank of windows, and then fluttering yellow "crime scene" tape strung in between.

This year I'm experimenting with two types of arrangement. The window in the corner (where my computer is) has the "old" kind. In the last year, the tape has gotten thinner as the manufacturer cuts corners to keep the price reasonable. My first tape lasted almost two years, but lately it's only lasted for a few storms. So the rest of the windows have poly rope strings on them, with tape strips added. We'll see what works best. I have all summer to test it. It's easy to replace a broken strip in summer, but not when it's bitter cold, with a mean wind and snow up to my knees! Whatever goes up in November has to last! This year the strips all ripped, and I had one tree sparrow casualty. He was arguing over a patch of seed with another tree sparrow, and they
took to the air in an aerial dogfight. When they came up on the window, the second sparrow was able to bank a turn in time, but the first one never had a chance. I don't know if flutter-strips would have helped at that speed. I'll still get the occasional strike, but with the strips, it usually a soft hit, and the bird can fly off. The big problem is that these windows have that thermal film on them, and while that makes them R-factor friendly, the reflection of the lake and sky would be treacherous without something to slow the birds down. So, here are a couple of photos of my backyard - open and ready for business!

BIRDWATCHERS WANT TO KNOW!

We’re all getting anxious for the annual spring migration here in the North – a happy time of adding to one’s Life List, of pishing in every kind of habitat imaginable. Who needs Twitter when you've got the real thing! Alas, it also brings up those tough perennial bird-related questions that even the experts don’t have answers for. Obviously, much more research is needed…


· Are Mute Swans critical of Wandering Tattlers? Or, for that matter, of their own Whistling, Trumpeting and Whooping cousins?

· Can you have a flock of Solitary Sandpipers?

· If Sapsuckers suck sap and Gnatcatchers catch gnats, what do Bananaquits do? How about a Killdeer?

· Do Worm-eating Warblers resent getting stuck with that name, when so many other birds with pretty names eat worms, too?

· Do Mockingbirds make fun of Hook-billed Kites and Broad-bellied Hummingbirds behind their backs?

· If you cross a Spoonbill with a Fork-tailed Kite, and their offspring with a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, and theirs with a Crossbill, would you end up with a Swiss Army bird?

· Isn’t a Greater-yellowlegs just a Lesser-yellowlegs with a pair of Stilts?

· Are Red-breasted Nuthatches, Pectoral Sandpipers, Titmice, and Boobies suitable for viewing by minors?

· What would happen if you put a Razorbill and a Red-whiskered Bulbul in a room together? What about a Bristle-thighed Curlew? (Hmm…is that where Beardless-Tyrannulets come from?)

· Do Hermit Thrushes and Monk Parakeets understand each other?

· How long is a Stint?

· What is the cutest bird name? (Hint: Dovekie) And the uncutest? (Hint: Smew)


* Photo of male Smew - which I am hereby unofficially renaming the "Gel-crested Panda Duck" - at www.birdform.net/opus/Smew