What a difference a day makes! Yesterday: warm sunshine, T-shirt and shorts, picnic lunch and BBQ dinner on the deck…..and watching the orioles hit our jam feeders. This morning when I left the house early I thought I was back in early April: cold NW winds and 5 degrees – and it never warmed up past 8 degrees!
I was kind of surprised to see a migrating Common Loon this morning….for 2 reasons: first, it’s getting to be a little late for them (most have gone through already – I guess April’s lousy weather may have held some back) and, second, there was a stiff NW wind with gusts to >35 km/hour. Usually when I see them they’re really motoring, taking advantage of following winds. But this guy was labouring, the usual speed across the sky just wasn’t there. And, although his heading was NNW his actual course was NNE – the wind hitting him from the side. I’m willing to bet the house that this bird, instead of continuing straight through to Georgian Bay or Lake Simcoe, put down in Lake Ontario until better conditions will prevail.
One of the benefits of The Great Pause is that folks are concentrating on the areas right around them for birding and general nature observations. They’re seeing a wide variety of birds! And this is the time to be out looking for them – the long-distance migrants are upon us….and will be for the next 3 weeks or so. I think you’ll find that you don’t have to go to Point Pelee to see some great birds.
[Thanks to everyone that is sending me pictures. The hard thing is to decide what to post…]:
Rick