NOW it feels like spring! What a day! (And finally, I might add!).

Yesterday, I was finally getting the bluebird houses up at the edge of the store’s parking lot. The giant pile of snow has been precluding me from doing this sooner. Although we don’t expect to ever see bluebirds nesting in front of our store, we set the boxes up as a display to show the recommended positioning. Last year, a pair of Black-capped Chickadees fledged three young from one of the houses. Yesterday, after getting the first box in the ground, I had just begun to dig the second hole when a blur whizzes over my shoulder. The blur turned out to be a chickadee, and before I even had the shovel to the ground, it was in the box! That’s didn’t take long! Guess he was thinking about spring.

Meanwhile, the skies finally cleared last night, but the northerly breeze continued well into the night. Therefore, there didn’t seem to be a ton of migrants on the move last night. I didn’t hear anything going over in a short listening session, but there were a few new things around this morning.

I stepped outside the door to hear my first Winter Wren of the spring singing its impressively complex and beautiful song. At Florida Lake, my first Spotted Sandpiper of the spring was foraging along the lakeshore, and other migrants there included a Northern Flicker and two Tree Swallows plus 20 Ring-necked Ducks and a very good total of 18 Wood Ducks. Not much at Bayview Preserve – except for the continuing Carolina Wren, and Cumberland’s Twin Brook Recreation area wasn’t too eventful either.

However, I think things will change in the next few nights. Clear and calm conditions should allow the migratory floodgates to burst (as opposed to the regular floodgates that burst in the storm). I would expect a good wave of White-throated Sparrows to arrive in the next few nights, along with lots of Dark-eyed Juncos, and an increase in new arrivals. The overall progress of many migrants has been stalled due to our nasty weather of late. However, I think much of that may be recovered in the next few days.

As long as the seabreezes don’t get too strong, I also think diurnal migrants – especially raptors – should make some good progress in the next few days as well. This could be one of our biggest weekends, and weeks, at the Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch. The conditions are right – let’s just hope the birds oblige!

Unfortunately, I will miss it all! Jeannette’s out of town for a few days, so my birding in the next couple of mornings will be rather limited to the first couple of hours of daylight – no showing up late to look for hawks! Other than our store’s free Saturday morning birdwalk that might just HAVE TO head up to the Hawkwatch tomorrow, I won’t be able to get up on the hill for the next few days. Then, on Sunday, I head to Louisiana for a week.

Although I am not complaining about this, I would have been quite a bit happier about being away LAST week! But, I will be having a great time, no doubt, at the American Birding Association’s Annual Convention, which this year will be in Lafayette, LA. I was asked to represent St. Paul Island Tours, which I spent three seasons working for. I couldn’t turn down a paid vacation! I’m sure I’ll get some birding time in, and hopefully, I’ll snag a couple of lifers (Swainson’s Warbler and Fulvous Whistling-Duck).