Spring brings with it a change of everything - weather patterns, amount of sunlight, and of course animals coming out of hibernation...and bird migrating. Robins are most people's bellweather.
But for me spring is truly here only when I see and hear two other birds: one is the red-winged blackbird, tough gutsy little birds that will basically take on all comers. And the second, ugly though they are, is the herald of the REAL maple season for me - the big, ugly but extremely useful turkey vulture! They can't ride nice warm thermals when it's cold, so there has to be some decent daytime temps for them to return.
But, I think you are asking for our fav, or at least our indicator or Spring. Mine is:
Due to arrive in the mountains of Colorado any day now. We are still in the grips of snow and ice, but my Spring harbinger is the Williamson's Sapsucker.
For me its not so much a particular bird that arrives but one that departs. Dark eyed juncos always tend to show up at my feeders within a week or two of the first snowfall and then leave within a week or two of the last snowfall. In our area they are almost strictly a winter bird. So when they no longer visit my feeders i know that spring has really made it. Our last snow was just shy of a week ago and they are still here. But my guess (my hope) is that next week i won't see them again until November. Bring on the spring as I say a fond farewell to our juncos.
When I lived in Upstate New York it was the Red-Winged Blackbird. In North Carolina I'd say it's more about when the Coots head North which is right about now - although I did start to see Red-Winged Blackbirds here when the weather started warming up.
Red winged blackbirds and Sandhill cranes. Goldfinches, as well as Lazuli Buntings and eventually hummingbirds (but it's more summertime when they finally show up here).
When I was a wee child, my father took me out at some ungodly hour in the morning (it was dark) to go watch Sage Grouse mate(?). I remember there were a lot of people there watching (...bunch of perverts!). Those are some funny little birds.
When I was a wee child, my father took me out at some ungodly hour in the morning (it was dark) to go watch Sage Grouse mate(?). I remember there were a lot of people there watching (...bunch of perverts!). Those are some funny little birds.
Yeah, they're a bit strange. Here's a photo of a male in display (not mine)
