Spring is here!
When I see the first snow bells, I know that we have turned the corner and Spring will arrive soon. I am always astonished that those delicate white little bells can withstand the snow and send their flowers through the ice and snow for the sunlight. Very often they will be buried in snow again and again, but they will fight back and eventually they will stand there in a group, welcoming the robin and all the other birds.
Two weeks ago it seemed as if we had an invasion of birds. They were all sitting in the trees around the house. There seemed to be at least a dozen different species, all chattering at once. I could not see them very well, but I could hear them even in the house. So we went outside and sat down to listen. It was almost a concert!
It seemed as if all the birds migrating north this Spring had arrived at our house at the same time. There were hundreds of them. If you are a student of nature and how animals communicate, you have learned that all animals use fairly recognizable calls to signal each other about food, prey, danger, predators, mating readiness, caution, alarm, territory, etc. But this was something different. Although I am familiar with many of the distinctly different types of calls, this was a cacophony of all sorts of calls that were just a wall of sound in the trees around us. It was like being in a crowded cocktail party hall with everyone talking excitedly at once. I was having a hard time distinguishing who was present in the din. We had never experienced this deluge of bird calls before. (We are planning a future post about the newest knowledge of just how nuanced and detailed these calls are.)
It seemed as if all the birds migrating north this Spring had arrived at our house at the same time. There were hundreds of them. If you are a student of nature and how animals communicate, you have learned that all animals use fairly recognizable calls to signal each other about food, prey, danger, predators, mating readiness, caution, alarm, territory, etc. But this was something different. Although I am familiar with many of the distinctly different types of calls, this was a cacophony of all sorts of calls that were just a wall of sound in the trees around us. It was like being in a crowded cocktail party hall with everyone talking excitedly at once. I was having a hard time distinguishing who was present in the din. We had never experienced this deluge of bird calls before. (We are planning a future post about the newest knowledge of just how nuanced and detailed these calls are.)
Some of these birds were no doubt returning nesters or their offspring from previous years, but there were so many others, that many were obviously passing through to last year’s breeding grounds elsewhere. When I remarked that we had never heard so many at one time in one place, my husband wryly joked that ‘well, it has been a long flight north and a lot has happened to them since they left last Fall, so I guess they have a lot to catch up about’. Of course it is fanciful to suggest that this was just a gossipy pit stop on the flight north, but it may not be too far off the mark in some ways.
As our technologies and experimental abilities have improved so much in recent years, scientists are discovering that very specific information is being shared not only within a flock of one species, but also eavesdropped and responded to by other species, and even by animals in different orders.
As our technologies and experimental abilities have improved so much in recent years, scientists are discovering that very specific information is being shared not only within a flock of one species, but also eavesdropped and responded to by other species, and even by animals in different orders.
We have slowly tried over the last 35 years on this land, to try to improve the natural habitat to encourage a wide variety of animals to visit, breed, live or just feed on their way somewhere else. So perhaps there was a lot of information for them all to signal to each other. ‘Here we can find fresh water, food, habitat and cover.’
We’ve done this by creating water resources, cover, plants, nesting habitats and ‘edge effect’ areas. If you’d like to encourage wildlife to use your property, planting appropriate habitats and food plants is one way of doing it. Using native varieties to your area will ensure hardiness and usefulness for your native animals.
The Audubon Society provides you with a tool to bring more birds to your home with native plants: https://www.audubon.org/native-plants. You can enter your zip code and filter your results by types of plants (grasses, succulents, shrubs, trees, etc.) , the food resource (nectar, fruits, seeds, etc.) or the types of birds you would like to attract. You can even order plants from the website if your garden center doesn’t provide them.
We’ve done this by creating water resources, cover, plants, nesting habitats and ‘edge effect’ areas. If you’d like to encourage wildlife to use your property, planting appropriate habitats and food plants is one way of doing it. Using native varieties to your area will ensure hardiness and usefulness for your native animals.
The Audubon Society provides you with a tool to bring more birds to your home with native plants: https://www.audubon.org/native-plants. You can enter your zip code and filter your results by types of plants (grasses, succulents, shrubs, trees, etc.) , the food resource (nectar, fruits, seeds, etc.) or the types of birds you would like to attract. You can even order plants from the website if your garden center doesn’t provide them.
I tried it with my own zip code and was very pleased that the plants/trees they mentioned and what birds they attract is exactly what I have been seeing outside- some of which we established. But it also suggests bushes or trees I might want to add to give other birds a reason to move to my area.
One hardy spring bush we planted covers whole sections in its bright yellow Spring color, the forsythia. I think everybody likes them, because they give us the wonderful yellow in the spring and then change into the summer green.
One hardy spring bush we planted covers whole sections in its bright yellow Spring color, the forsythia. I think everybody likes them, because they give us the wonderful yellow in the spring and then change into the summer green.
When the daffodils appear, I know the mowing season is not too far ahead. Then the grass suddenly appears and needs attention sooner than later. It also means that I have to pick up all the branches that the winter storms blew down. This means I will get good exercise which makes me feel good.
The sunshine and the warmer temperatures kiss the trees to wake up, and then you see this amazing blush in green, yellow and red on the trees up the hill and around the house. If one of those trees stand near a pine tree, the “blush” is very intense in the contrast.
The sunshine and the warmer temperatures kiss the trees to wake up, and then you see this amazing blush in green, yellow and red on the trees up the hill and around the house. If one of those trees stand near a pine tree, the “blush” is very intense in the contrast.
Sooner or later all our birds are back, even the tiny hummingbirds, and we are ready for summer. Many years ago I started a bird list, i.e.- I wrote down all the birds I had identified and I am having now well over a hundred different birds on my list. Some of them stayed for the summer, others stayed only a day, a week or so and then headed further north. I saw them again, when they were on their way to their winter quarters in the south. They’ll tend to come back your way, if they found food and cover on their trip north.
My ‘locals’ of course are somewhat more recognizable. The individuals that ‘summer’ on our property, do not ‘display’ and ‘alarm’ like transients do. Robins, Grosbeaks, Sparrows, Chickadees, Finches and others, that were here before and became used to us (and our now much older and less threatening cat), will not react with alarm calls and tail pumping and nervous jumps to higher branches like the transients do. They’ve established their breeding territories on our property, know and recognize us and stay closer as we approach. If you look out and see a half dozen Robins on the lawn, and only four fly away when you step out, but two stay down and eyeball you, then those two probably raised a brood here last year. They recognize that you are not a threat.
My ‘locals’ of course are somewhat more recognizable. The individuals that ‘summer’ on our property, do not ‘display’ and ‘alarm’ like transients do. Robins, Grosbeaks, Sparrows, Chickadees, Finches and others, that were here before and became used to us (and our now much older and less threatening cat), will not react with alarm calls and tail pumping and nervous jumps to higher branches like the transients do. They’ve established their breeding territories on our property, know and recognize us and stay closer as we approach. If you look out and see a half dozen Robins on the lawn, and only four fly away when you step out, but two stay down and eyeball you, then those two probably raised a brood here last year. They recognize that you are not a threat.
Science has shown that at least some birds have the capacity to recognize human faces. Faces that didn’t molest them in the past, do not cause anxious reactions. In fact, this knowledge was astonishingly passed onto the next generation! They can recognize the ebb and flow of human behavior and body language. (Not really surprising as they have to do the same with the predators that stalk them everyday! Are they hungry or just passing through? The body language will be very different.)
There is a richness in the returning of life in the Spring. Myriad things open, grow and return. So, if you pay close attention, you may even recognize a returning companion from last year, which is all the richer, because they returned.
There is a richness in the returning of life in the Spring. Myriad things open, grow and return. So, if you pay close attention, you may even recognize a returning companion from last year, which is all the richer, because they returned.
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