April 29, 2012 - Early Spring Arrivals

Spring migration is in full swing in Minnesota. Here are a few of the early arrivals at our home in northern Minnesota.

For many people, the first sighting of an American Robin signals that spring is on its way. Their cheery song, even if it does come before the sun is up, is a welcome sign that warmer weather is coming. Actually, some Robins spend the entire winter in Minnesota. This year, with our mild weather, more of them than usual might have stayed here. They can’t find insects in the winter but they switch to eating fruit like crab apples and berries. As long as they can find enough to eat, they can easily survive our winter.

RobinAmericanDunningLake20120406

Common Grackles are also back with us. They aren’t very popular birds but I think they are quite striking when seen in the right light. I have better luck photographing them when it’s cloudy than when the sun is bright.

GrackleCommonDunningLake20120407

Dark-eyed Juncos are moving through our area. They spend the winter all across the United States. But most of the time we are just a little too far north to have them stay here. We see them for a few weeks in the spring and fall as they move between their wintering areas and their summer nesting territories across Canada. The dark upper parts of this bird tell me it is a male.

JuncoDarkeyedDunningLake20120331

This is a female Junco. There is a lot of variation in the color of their plumage but they are lighter than the males and have some combination of gray and brown feathers.

JuncoDarkeyedDunningLake20120407

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers just came back and they will spend the summer in our area. They are famous for drilling neat rows of holes in the bark of trees. Sap from the trees collects in these holes and the Sapsuckers eat the sap and the insects that are attracted to the sweet liquid. Both males and females have red on top of the head. This is a male because he also has a red throat.

SapsuckerYellowbelliedmaleDunningLake20120407

“Mug shots” of birds often produce some interesting contrasts between the front and side views. This is an American Tree Sparrow. It’s moving through our area to its nesting grounds in the northern half of Canada. Note the bi-colored bill; dark on the upper mandible and yellow on the lower. The front view makes me think it’s eating a kernel of corn.

SparrowAmericanTreemugshotDunningLakecomposite20120331