Finally a nice sunny day!
and as is often the case this time of the year, the species that we’ve seen sporadically since mid-March…were showing up again (I often wonder where they go on inclement days)…. 
like the Tree Swallows…there were a dozen or more, all busy checking out nesting boxes….
Here a male on top while the female inspects the inside. Today too the Poplars (sometimes called ‘Cottonwood’) were giving off that wonderful spring scent as they started to leaf out, scattering ‘sticky buds’ on the ground. Both House Finch and Purple Finch have been around today and I spotted one lone Pine Sisken….Sisken have been totally absent for months now.
It was so pleasant we sat at the log bay for a while…and as usually happens, when you just sit for a while, things start to happen. A trio of Brewer’s Blackbirds came down for a drink, a Song Sparrow appeared, there was one Canada Goose down by the water…not a duck anywhere to be seen… and then….
a Black Cap Chickadee showed up….
soon joined by a mate. Chickadee’s are cavity nesters so check out rotten wood such as these pilings to see if there is a spot suitable to excavate a nesting hole. A pair used to nest in the big old Weeping Willow that stood in this area for years and years before a particularly bad wind storm ….now the tree is laying prone in the bush although fresh growth is appearing from the broken off trunk….
There weren’t nearly the numbers of Northern Flickers today, although after downloading this I see this is one of the hybrids…a female….because when it flew it had the red coloration of the red – shafted, but it shows the red V of the yellow shafted as well. There was no sign of activity near the Bushtit nest today although I could hear Bushtits deeper in the vegetation.
Noticeable for the past week or so are the willows whose ‘pussy willows’ are now in full flower…
this close up gives more detail….all these blooming willows were attracting all sorts of bees and other insects.
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