Yesterday I reported my first indication that spring is right around the corner. I took about thirty minutes to walk Ritchey Woods, a local birding spot (Central Indiana) at sunset and heard a red-winged blackbird. I tracked him down to the top of a bare tree and shot s decent photo of him.
Since I posted this piece, last evening, two other blogging friends blogged about recent sightings of spring arrivals.
Les Houser, serious birder in Southwest Ohio, wrote in his blog A Birder’s Notebook, about birder’s in his region reporting the PEENTs of the American Woodcock. The PEENT is a call associated with the woodcock’s interesting mating ritual and occurs in late February and Early March in his region. (If you have not witnessed a woodcock mating flight you must! Contact a local bird group and they can clue you in.)
Greg Adams, my willow bending and birding friend, wrote in his blog Willows by Greg, about flocks of northbound sandhill cranes flying over as he cut willow in Markleville, Indiana. I’ve seen huge flocks of sandhills at Goose Pond in southern Indiana, but never the large flocks in flight. Ernie Mills, a photographer and travel companion, got some great shots of flocks flying over Noblesville, Indiana on Wednesday.
We’ve not had much of a winter, but it looks like we’re headed for the other side.
How far is Indiana to Montreal? How long will it take for spring to arrive? Gosh, I guess that we’ll have to wait two more long months. Thanks for following my blog 🙂
We are usually deep in snow and cold now, too. Our thaw usually comes in early March. We may still be in for it. It is good to see some migrating birds return “home”.
I, too, thought that I heard Sandhill Cranes earlier this week, but I never did see them. Glad to know that I probably wasn’t imagining it! I was surprised to hear them so early, which is why I pretty quickly dismissed it!