The Day of Brighid and Spring Part 1

Sadly, this post is a bit late. Brighid was February 2. Better late than never.

My favorite day of the year dawned cloudy and a bit foggy. The chickadees argue over the last little chunk of suet placed in the feeder last weekend. Buds on the salmonberry are bulging while beaked hazelnut catkins have already emerged. Song sparrows trill their various songs announcing the lengthening of the days. To celebrate the day I packed up my camera gear, binocs, water, tea, and snacks and head north to search out the activity of the numerous wintering raptors. they'll be here for another month with a few staying onto March. Many return to northern climes while others disperse to their nesting areas here or places I know not where. Most of the local bald eagles and red-tail hawks are courting or on nests now. I wonder where all the short-eared owls came from and where they'll go when they decide to leave.

The snow geese and swans will be around for awhile, too. Once hunting is over the snow geese are even more visible. they join in huge flocks of 1000s moving through fields feeding like flowing water. In constant motion with their distinctive high honk always on. In contrast the trumpeter swans (tundra, too) join together in much smaller flocks, sometimes only one or two family group, usually not more than a few hundred. They tend to be much quieter and still. They wander around a field or gracefully glide on the water. They often call when they fly betraying the reason they are called trumpeters (tundra swans used to be called whistling swans for the same reason). Long necks and powerful bright white wings, these large birds are hard to mistake against any color of sky.

The geese and swans are the returning swallows of the winter. The fields of white and their the calls fill the heart with warmth to enjoy the winter months.