A12

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

It's pretty hard not to feel a little of the midwinter blues around this time of year, but before you rush out and buy one of those light sources that cure "seasonal affective disorder," give this some thought: It's a little easier to get out of bed in the morning if you're having breakfast with a blue jay and can look forward to coffee with a cardinal, dinner with the doves or supper with the siskins.

Enlarge Photo

If you need the full treatment, go outside with a handful of sunflower seeds and stand still between the bird feeder and the bird's favorite tree. In no time at all chickadees and nuthatches will land on your hand and snatch up seeds. If that doesn't make you feel better, you'd better call the doctor.

Since I started feeding birds in my own home I'm usually up before dawn, standing at the kitchen window to see who'll be the first to show up. I've also been known to be outside in my house coat, refilling feeders in the middle of winter. Maybe I just feel better about winter because I'm awake for the entire length of daylight, but I think the birds have a lot to do with it.

Spring comes early for birders as well. By the middle of March we are expecting our first spring migrants. Blackbirds arrive early to do the clean-up under the feeders and although I prefer not to have too many grackles around in summer, I really welcome them in the spring. It's an incredible sight to be scanning a flock of about 300 mostly male red-winged blackbirds when they all take flight at once, suddenly flashing the brilliant red patches on their wings. Then we look forward to the migrant robins (as opposed to the winter residents) and with them usually the northern flicker followed closely by the warblers and bobolink.

If this doesn't help you to see the light at the end of the winter, may be this will: As I write this, the ruby-throated hummingbird is going through his pre-flight checklist. By the time you're reading it, some will already have crossed the Gulf of Mexico and made land in Florida. So hang in there, spring will come.

To make things more interesting, a group of nature lovers keep a winter bird list. So far since Dec. 1 there have been 162 species reported in New Brunswick. Check out the entire list at www.nbwinter.gbnature.com. Maybe you have something to add.

Sightings this week: Northern cardinal in Osburn Corner, northern hawk owl on Cape Enrage Road, golden eagle near Mary's Point, numerous Bohemian waxwing, northern shrike and white-winged crossbill reports and a northern mockingbird in Harrisville, to mention a few. Keep them coming.

* Dwayne Biggar has a shop called The Bird Garden at Edgett's Landing. Have a question about birds and nature in southeastern New Brunswick? Contact him at thebirdgarden@rogers.com or 734-2489.