Harbingers of Spring
 

Friday night when I put my dog up and brought in a fresh load of firewood to beat the coming rains, the sky was slightly overcast with almost no wind. I paused for a moment before going in and caught the sound of the barely audible melodious yodel of a huge flock of Whistler Swans on high, headed back due north off the Chesapeake to the breeding grounds on the frozen tundra, driving hard above the clouds. It has captured me for years as almost a Druid ritual; I hear them in the Fall just after Halloween but well before Thanksgiving, coming South, heralding yet another season on the water and in the fields. We are so blessed!

The swans winter here and their majestic flight is very inspiring. Considering the human population density of the East Coast the wildlife abundance is breathtaking. David

The sandhill cranes have been flying around here this week. Spring is getting close.

Kevin,

No flyway in central Kentucky. The Canada geese do, however, nest on Shannon Run creek that runs the length of the west side of the farm as do the wood duck. I enjoy watching them flying in and cupping up for the landing. When the iris bloom in late April and early May the geese will walk their young out. Yes, the harbingers of spring....

Harry

you fellas sure know how to put good thoughts into a fellas head...thanks charlie

Saw my first buzzard of the year a week ago dining on a road killed coon next to the snowbank on the side.

Yeah, last week two or three evenings I could hear the Tree Peepers down in the pines below my house here in the middle of Virginia. They would be chirping till just before dark when the temperature started to drop then they would stop. Springs a coming.

One of my strongest memories in fowling is the day that Nathan and I hunted together on Mitchell's Bay in Ontario. When either of us mentions it we call it "the day the swans came" still to this day.

There's always a few there, early in the season just the feral mute type, then the real wild swans begin to trickle in as the season comes along. This day we left the dock with a light early snow falling. About the time Nate cut the engine I could hear them, as the light came up I could see them, flying over in flock after flock after flock.

Apparently some early hard weather to the north had moved them all en masse and we were seeing the full migration. It was middle of the week, we'd only gone out because we knew the early snow might have some ducks moving. Hardly anyone else on the lake, just one of those times.

This flight continued till nearly noon when the snow finally laid off and the sun came out. By this time the open water looked like a new huge white island had formed over the course of the morning, covered literally with a blanket of swans.

You know what's funny, I don't even remember if we shot any ducks that day.



Destry

First real harbinger of spring came to Fairbanks yesterday... I had my first water dripping off the sunny south side of my roof for a couple of hours. It's still well below 0deg here but that rising sun is powerful. This has been our coldest winter since 1998, which has made for some excellent wood-splitting temperatures. At -20 and below you can split a fresh-cut 12" birch round with a 2# axe in one hand... it's a beautiful thing.... or maybe it's just a "you had to be there" moment.

Destry: let me know the next time that swan thing happens and I'll have Scotty beam me down....

We enjoyed a few sunny days last week that had the Ground Hogs out of their holes, to nibble on whatever green stems they could find.