Bird Watching

I am not one that actually bird watches. Sadly, I'm not that patient. But I do observe birds that are around me. Friday, I noted a few things on my walk to work

Canadian Geese. These birds normally migrate from Canada all the way down to North & South Carolina and back. They are the first heralds of spring's return in New England. We see them on the return trip north. Only... they weren't going north. They really weren't going south either. Over the past week, I've observed several large flocks of Canadian geese flying east and west. First one way, then back the other. I don't know if they are the same flocks or are just trading empty corn fields with other flocks in the area.

One hypothesis is that these birds never really got that far south this winter. The Nor'easter was early, before the bulk of the them fly past us. The winter has been very mild here since, so there was no reason for them to go further. In fact, just south of New England, the strip of land known as Long Island has been feeding and protecting Canadian geese for the last few decades and have successfully - if unintentionally - created a new breed. These Long-Island/Canadian geese do not migrate. In fact, they can NOT migrate; it has actually been bred out of them. Now they just soil soccer fields and get fat off the bread and other food people toss their way - an oversized pigeon whose only main competition are the Sea Gulls.

Another theory I have is that the shift in the poles has started and this has thrown their natural sense of direction off. We've seen other - and far more horrifying - bird phenomena in the US the last few years, such as hundreds of birds literally dropping dead, falling from the sky for reasons unknown. There have been some proposals made, but none really seems to fit. One such theory experts have proposed was "distant fireworks" startled a large flock from the roosting ground. The startled birds flew and all supposedly had heart-attacks. I may not be a bird-watcher, but that seems a bit far-fetched...

Sea Gulls Another visitor to the neighborhood this week is sea gulls. They are not too strange, but are not a common sight. These birds usually are along the shorelines - 70 miles south of where I reside. They are noisy, tough birds whom I've seen wrestle children and even stubborn adults for food. I recall a drive to a beach on Long Island (where I grew up) where two lanes of cars heading for the beach had to be detoured because some seagulls refused to move. Any car that threatened to run them over ran the risk of having the underside dismantled. They are quick and clever - and mostly around the shoreline...

The only time we see them this far inland is when there is a major storm - we're talking hurricanes and nor'easters, not just thunderstorms, approaching the shoreline. Tough as they are, they know to get the heck out of the way when these move in. Yet, we've had nothing but unseasonably warm weather and clear sunny skies all week. No storm, hardly any wind in fact. I don't know what they are doing here.

There's one in particular that I swear even spies me walking up the road and calls to me from the street lamp as I go by.

Crows Crows are said to be the harbingers of change. Last year, there was non-stop activity with crows. They would swoop and call out as I walked to work or around town. I would see large flocks of them rise from trees and fill the sky. There were many who - quite unnervingly - flew directly at my office window only to turn away at the last possible moment - inches from the glass. That happened too many times to recount - well over a few dozen.

These past few weeks... they have not been seen at all. I've seen crows and sea gulls co-exist before; usually both will be chased out of the tree by a sparrow in the summer months. :D But they have been notably missing since... the start of the year I would say. I didn't notice it right away because I was focused on work and ill, but the more I think back, the more I realize they are just... gone. They were here in December, right up to Christmas.

Robins: The traditional phrase in the area is, "It isn't officially spring until you see your first red-breast robin. The robin has always marked the beginning of spring in the area. Though with the unusual warm weather and the changes of birds of late, will we see this harbinger of spring? Or will we see yet another change to one of the lives that surround ours everyday?

Wait, watch, and we shall see.

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