The Aftermath

It's still snowing lightly here in the Twin Cities, but the bulk of weather has moved on (sorry about that Wisconsin and Illinois). We ended up with probably 9"+ but it is melting in places already. Oddly enough, my feeders have been absolutely quiet today. A junco here and a chickadee there is about all I've seen. Where are the early migrants?

That brought to mind the idea of phenology, the study of natural events. A friend and mentor, Jim Gilbert, wrote a book a while ago about the phenology of central Minnesota and I thought I'd list the average arrival dates for some of birds we should be seeing in numbers in the near future. Something to look forward to as the weather changes.

Red-winged Blackbirds March 10 - 22 (they are here)
Great Blue Heron March 7 - 27
American Robins March 5 - 21 (some winter here every year)
Killdeer March 6 - 26
Fox Sparrow First week of April




Here's someone we should be seeing soon. Keep those feeders full!