Spring ahead....

Had to get out early this morning in order to get a walk in before the forecasted rain arrived...

didn't quite make it...the rain started right about here....

The first day of spring is still 12 days away, but tonight we move our clocks forward and start daylight savings time, so thought that was good enough to do a quick run down of what we should be expecting for the rest of the month.

We'll start off with some of our 'regulars' like this Spotted Towhee...you'll note they are often up in the shrubs right now, many giving sort of buzz type calls...  Song Sparrows are also more visible and singing...

there are still lot of Varied Thrush around but by the end of the month they will probably start to disappear...  We already know that their cousin's, the American Robins are back and will be with us from now.  Another regular is the Steller's Jay and I've been rather surprised to see a pair gathering nesting material already....I know most birds start nesting a lot earlier than we think.

the Red-wing Blackbirds are exhibiting two types of behavior now...many males are scattered about in the riparian habitat, setting up territories and waiting for the females to arrive back - there is much flashing of the red wing patches....these are the ones that will stay and nest in the area.  The large all male flock is still around too, these ones tend to stick together, calling insistently from tree tops...they will eventually move on.

There has been virtually no waterfowl of any sort around recently.  It shouldn't be long before we start to see pairs of Canada Geese showing up as they search for nest sites....we may see large flocks of the resting on the flats too as the vegetation starts to grow (hopefully).  By the end of the month we can hope to see some shorebirds stopping by on their northward migration and we'll be saying good by to the Trumpeter Swans.

We've already seen the first of the Tree Swallows arrive back, their numbers will increase.  A few sunny days and the Rufous Hummingbirds should be showing up.  Tiny Ruby Crowned Kinglets should be back although I haven't seen any yet, and don't be surprised if you spot a Yellow-rumped Warbler....this abundant species is the earliest of the warblers to move north.

The numbers of Northern Flicker should increase anytime now as they migrate through, this is the time of year when we have our best chance of spotting a pure yellow shafted and there should be all sorts of weird combinations as hybrids between the red and yellow shafted move through.

We've had lots of Dark-eyed Junco but their numbers will increase too and this is the time of year when we can see those 'odd balls' or 'piebalds'...normal birds but with unusual white markings.

Then of course there are the sparrows, White-crowned, Gold-crowned, and maybe even a White throated.....it is an exciting time of year.......