Birds of the farmette

Its a grey, rainy day in Grey County. For the first time, I went out this morning with just my sweatshirt for warmth because it was a balmy 1C.

The vernal equinox happened on Friday morning, signaling real spring. The farmette lawn has only the odd patch of snow cover still. And, nearly best of all, the birds are back in their hundreds.

As I sit in my office, I can hear a robin singing. Maybe it's the pterdactyl-sized one that's been hanging around the west side feeder. Honestly, it's about three times bigger than the juncos who are also chowing down out there.

Anyhow, that was my inspiration for today's post. Over the years, we've been fortunate to capture quite a few species on camera at the farmette, so here's a wee tour with some stories.

The chickadees stay all year round, and they're some of the smallest but sassiest of the avian bunch.

Rob said he was out cleaning cat litters in the garage yesterday, which meant he had to pass by the bird feeder on the way back to the house. One of the wee masked ones took great umbrage at the human disrupting his meal and told Rob in no uncertain terms how he felt.

We have had multiple woodpeckers at the suet cakes as well. Amazing that these birds have been around for at least 25 million years.

Their distinctive rat-a-tat-tat can be heard around the yard all summer long as they forage for insects in the trees.

Early in our residency at the farmette, Rob was able to capture this hummingbird at the feeder. It's not quite warm enough up here for them yet, but I'm looking forward to their company.

Besides their unique ability to hover and their long proboscis fit for getting at sugar water and nectar, they can go into mini-hibernations called torpor, when it's cold or there is a dearth of food.

We're still waiting to see Ralph and Alice, the pair of Canada geese that regularly hang out on the front lawn.

They're monogamous and can live a long time in the wild - usually 20 to 25, but up to 40 years. We hope that our "Honeymooners" are still in the prime of their lives.

It's not always sweetness and light with the farmette birds.

A couple of times, we've had hawks treat the bird feeder as a banquet. All those lovely, juicy sparrows and chickadees are just too tempting for local raptors.

We also have more than our fair share of turkey vultures, who are the clean up crew for roadkill and other animal detritus around the community.

They're not that pretty, but you have to admit they do have majestic wings.

So that's it for this week. So fortunate to live in a spot where we have such a wide variety of feathered friends. Until next week.

Gratuitous feline photo courtesy of Calvin, who decided to take a nap in his beloved cat tunnel.