Early spring, for we haven't yet hit 60 degrees this year, means the birds start to return. We don't have as many here as we did in Michigan, which is sad, but we still have quite a few compared to when we lived in Utah. We have a pond just outside our front door, and there is another larger pond/lake a half mile or so down the road. I can run there in the mornings again now that the snow is gone, and it's a good place to see birds.
All winter we've had the Canadian Geese around that didn't seem to get the memo that they should have kept going south for a few more hundred miles. Most of them left for the winter, but some of them are either hardier or dumber than the rest. The geese have now been joined on the water with several types of ducks, which I don't bother trying to classify. Robins are common here throughout the winter also. Near our mail box we have some morning doves, which Shannon likes.
In the last 2 or 3 weeks I've seen more hawks hanging around tall polls. And, to my particular delight, the red winged blackbirds have come back also. Also around the pond in just the last 2 or 3 days there have been seagulls as well as what I think are killdeer. No cardinals yet that I've seen, and it is a little sad how few there are here. In Michigan we could look out in our backyard at pretty much any random time and see cardinals. The only other birds that I'm particularly looking out for are the heron that were common at the pond last fall, and perhaps another eagle sighting like we had last year.
Even if people call me old because of it, I still like the birds, particularly because they haven't yet started waking me up at 5 am.
7 comments:
Just a few minutes after posting this, I was looking out the window from the girls' room and there was a great blue heron outside in the pond.
The robins aren't here in the winter, they are a new arrival. And the cardinals are around. I can hear them, just can't see them! (This isn't surprising though, is it? With my eyesight?)
I'm sure you'll get some good birds on your pond this summer. Do you get non-mallard ducks, or are you really not going to try to figure that out?
If the robins left for the winter, they came back really early, because I've been seeing them out since at least February.
As for the ducks, I can't say I've seen any that are non-mallard. I haven't been looking though, either. So, they're probably all mallards. You're the expert here - should I be paying closer attention for some exotic ducks?
I'm not familiar with which ducks you might see in Illinois, but I'm sure there are more than just mallards.
I pulled out my bird book last night to see what other sorts of ducks I should be keeping my eyes open for, and memorized all the ducks it lists. They are: mallards. Yup, that's the only one. I guess I'll have to use the internet if I want to try and suss out any other ducky species.
One could start here: http://www.illinoisbirds.org/birds_of_illinois1.html
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