And So It Begins ...

We've seen (and heard) the signs these past few weeks.  But today, the appearance of a pair of golden-crowned kinglets made it official: the birds are on their way back.

I've been getting used to our new camera, a Leica V-Lux 4, a pretty sweet compact digital that we decided on because we wanted something with many of the features of  a DSLR but smaller, more flexible, and lighter than the Canon Rebel we've been using the past 4 years. This morning, in poor light, I tried to capture one of these crazy little birds.

He cooperated long enough for this:

And then the Leica cooperated well enough to capture him taking off.  First he de-iced the wings:

Then he tested the landing gear:

Airborne!

Chickadees, who've been around all winter, still call chick-a-dee-dee-dee but they're also singing fee-bee.  Cardinals and mourning doves have been here all winter too, but they're suddenly less shy. This guy was busy showing his mate how adept he is at seed collection; we didn't see him feed her in that way John Stanizzi described so beautifully in his poem, Cardinals, but I've no doubt he did.
















The mourning doves just seem to like a nice sunny spot; with apologies to Stanizzi, they had no interest in firm heads of lettuce this day.
 














The robins are playing their flutes every morning as I pick the paper up off the porch. And they take frequent baths in the afternoon sun.

















House finches and American goldfinches arrive in pairs and --for now at least-- successfully bully the house sparrows off the feeders.

















My much-loved kestrel did not return to the empty lot outside my office, but a pair of killdeer have once again set up house in the playing field in the housing development just north of us.

We've caught glimpses of mockingbirds, and first one, now two song sparrows have decided our yard is full of tasty treats.















The birds are on the move. The next we can expect are winter wrens, brown creepers, and Eastern towhees. In fact, I'm pretty sure I heard someone in the distance this morning exhorting me to drink my tea ...

What could be better than that?