Rufous Hummingbird!

 After lamenting that I hadn't seen one yet, figured I had better report....

just as we were finishing up our walk today....there one was, the first male Rufous Hummingbird of the season....no where near any feeders that are out and waiting for them all over the place.

it had been a fairly uneventful walk up until that point, although it was nice to see the plum tree was almost in full flower....

there were quite a few honeybees at it, would have been more if the sun was shining.

Honey bees also down on the ground at the fallen catkins from the Cotton Wood trees, they were also all over the horsetails along the edge of the dyke.

a pair of Bald Eagles were on the beach across the river, another was perched in a tree near the second nest, I suspect that the female is now sitting on the nest....of course if that is the case she is laying low and keeping quiet.

more and more dandelions flowering now....

but let's take another look at the Rufous as we first spotted him....after all they are only here for about 3 months, at least that is how long the males stay, the females are usually a little later to arrive, and stay longer.

More signs of spring.....

 The signs of spring just keep coming.....

This morning saw this Steller's Jay with a huge mouthful of nesting material.

Yesterday....

in fact pretty much every day now except when it is really raining, there are Tree Swallows checking out various nesting boxes.

including over here at the martin nest boxes.

this Black-capped Chickadee was busy excavating a nest site. Some birds carry material to make a nest, while others like chickadees and nuthatches take material away to excavate a hole - which is why, if you put out nest boxes for them, you should put some sawdust or wood chips in the box so they can 'excavate' and carry them away.

water levels are starting to rise ever so slightly....

there were still a good number of geese in the field today with a lot of pairs scattered around all by themselves....

seems like this one is settling into where she nests every year, or least some goose does, assuming it is the same one.

they were hard to see today with the lighting and condition of the water, but the loons are definitely getting their breeding plumage.

and oh my goodness!  the robins.....they are everywhere.  Still waiting for a Rufous Hummingbird to show up though.

Damp spring days

 Well here we are, 3 days into spring and so far it has been damp....not soaking....but just plain damp.

a combination of rain and wind seems to have taken down a good size tree on the far side of the river.

Despite what had been pretty cool weather up to this point....spring is progressing....dandelion in flower.

We are still waiting for a Rufous Hummingbird to show up, this male Anna's was perched on a Black Hawthorne that is starting to leaf out.

spring is also showing itself by all the signs of nesting, or thinking of nesting...like this European Starling

and the Bald Eagle pair

and Canada Goose pairs showing up in different spaces.

Northern Flicker are being more visible now, numbers always increase during March as some migrate through

Song Sparrow this evening....

from the viewing platform tonight.  There were a few swallows, and I think possibly Swift, flying high over head.

Last day of Winter

 Today was the last official day of winter.....

and it wasn't about to go easy!  Wind, rain, hail and some sunshine.....above was the log bay this evening, probably the clearest the skies have been.

yesterday over at Harrison Bay it was pretty much the same, you can see fresh snow on the hills...

Despite how cool it has been, spring is arriving pretty much right on schedule...

the Osoberry (formerly known as Indian Plum) is in full flower in some spots, not quite out in others.

Salmonberries are just starting to bloom in a few spots, but not in others.

There is lots of pairing up with the birds that are around....here a pair of Common Merganser...

here a pair of Canada Geese, although there are still fairly large groups of geese as well, but no where as many as earlier in the winter.

Tree Swallows showed up on the 13th which is actually later than normal, only a few seen so far which is probably a good thing...have been thinking the poor little guys should be wearing parkas it has been so chilly!

large numbers of Robins continue....

and nesting sites are being checked out all over the place....this one by a Northern Flicker.

all of the woodpeckers have been active - this one being a male Downy Woodpecker

and here we have the female member of one of the Pileated Woodpecker pairs in the area.

back on the river, a pair of Common Goldeneye.

With spring arriving tomorrow, we can expect Rufous Hummingbirds anytime.  White-crowned Sparrows should show up soon.  A Yellow-rump Warbler was heard the other day, but none have been spotted yet.....it is definitely a time of change.

Same walk, 2 very different days....

 For various reasons, we've been walking in different places, but yesterday, and again today, we did our normal walks, over to the park in the morning and along the dyke in the afternoon.

we started yesterday over at the log bay....weather was very chilly and just a little misty...

there were a number of Mallards, many of them snoozing like this trio, only one female Common Merganser....for some reason she seems to hang out with the Mallards.

A Steller's Jay came down for a drink or a bath....

the common denominator between yesterday and today, were the Red-wing Blackbirds...

heading over to the dyke after lunch.....

it was the day I've been expecting ......the day the robins really arrive.  

there were Robins everywhere!  Guesstimate would be a couple of hundred in the area all told.

lots of European Starling too, some were in flocks, but this was one of a pair busy....

building a nest in a cavity in the shortest of these ....

must have seen at least a dozen Spotted Towhee a well....this one was eating the catkin from a broken branch from one of the Cottonwoods that line the dyke

The most thrilling sight though, was finding...

a couple of Western Meadowlark.  I'd heard meadowlarks the last few times we had been there, but wasn't able to spot them until now.

 here is the other one.  Meadowlarks are only found here for a few weeks during migration.

Finally, 

there were a couple of Great Blue Heron in one of the fields, it has been a while since we'd seen any in the area.

Today's walk was much different....not a single robin, no sign of Meadowlarks,

there was a pair of Hooded Merganser (male only in photo) along with some Mallards in the quiet pond at the start of the walk.

there were a couple of hundred Geese back in the fields, and a few on the water, including this one checking out a nesting site.

Speaking of nesting sites...

this Bald Eagle pair were very active and vocal around the nest today.

Nothing else was seen or heard until we had almost returned to our car, when suddenly...

a couple of Steller's Jay dove deep down into the bushes....  Why?

this is why!  I'm never 100% positive about ID'ing these guys but I think it is a Cooper's Hawk rather than a Sharp-shin.  Whichever it is, it cooperated by perching close by so I could get pictures.