Easter Morning

On Easter morning my sister Maria and I took a walk on our property to see how the spring was coming along. Since last Sunday the leaves on the trees have almost all come out, and the dogwoods are beginning to fade away. The wisteria are starting to come on strong. The temps have fallen back into the normal range for April, and we have had some rain. Not surprisingly we saw and heard several Louisianna waterthrushes along the creeks either already paired up, or competing for mates. We heard our first hooded warbler of the season (photo above was actually taken 2 years ago in TX during spring migration there-click on photo to enlarge).



As we were looking for the hooded warbler, which never came close enough to see, we also heard a great horned owl calling which seemed a bit odd since it was 11 AM. We found our first of the year blue-gray gnatcatchers. Year round residents out and about included cardinals, Carolina chickadees, tufted tits, bluejays, red-shouldered hawks, downy, red-bellied and pileated woodpeckers, and carolina wrens. Northern parulas were calling all around. At one spot we heard a call that puzzled us, and then I clicked in and realized it was our first of the season white-eyed vireo (photo just above). Our final new bird of the day was a wood duck that we flushed off our pond.

This coming week is supposed to be in the normal temp range for April again. I will continue to check on how the early spring migration is proceeding. Stay tuned!