Spring was in the air this morning. Well….not first thing this morning, maybe after the frost melted off the nets and the White-throated Sparrow began to sing. There seemed to have been a small influx of Song Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos. But the real telltale was the appearance of 3 “firsts” for the year: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Northern Mockingbird (these birds are commonly seen in the area but we rarely get them at Ruthven), and Fox Sparrow.
Banded 35:
2 Mourning Dove
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
5 Golden-crowned Kinglets
1 Northern Mockingbird
1 American Tree Sparrow
1 Fox Sparrow
6 Song Sparrows
1 White-throated Sparrow
10 Dark-eyed Juncos
7 American Goldfinches (none with conjunctivitis)
Matangwe Bird Club Outing – April 6th
Dan And Christine lead another outing of the Matangwe Bird Club on Sunday morning. They have been holding “meetings” weekly since I left at the end of February. They had an amazing 40 members in attendance!!
They also had a pretty good bird count banding 30 birds of 15 species:
Lesser Honeyguide
Red-billed Firefinch
Marico Sunbird
Spectacled Weaver
Olive Sunbird
African Moustached Warbler
Speckled Mousebird
African Pygmy Kingfisher
Baglafecht Weaver
Common Bulbul
Brown Twinspot
Red-fronted Barbet
Slender-billed Weaver
Yellow-rumped Seedeater
Vitelline Masked Weaver
Rick
Every year I am amazed by how quickly things change at this time of year. In a week 50 SNBU have disappeared to be replaced by twice that many Red-winged blackbirds and Common grackles along with Cowbirds, Purple finches and Song sparrows. Pretty sure I heard a Chipping sparrow this morning, too….and my Shetland geese are laying!