With their spring-brightened feathers and festive mating songs, birds are signaling the arrival of spring in New England. Goldfinches are now developing bright yellow breasts and crisp black-and-white wing feathers—much brighter than their dull winter feathers—and the male cardinals have also added an extra dose of red pigment to their feathers, all the better to attract a mate.
On April 1, I was surprised to see a lone tree swallow scouting out the nest boxes in our field for a couple of hours and then take off. These aerobatic fliers—a mosquito-control air force that’s better than a mosquito magnate—usually arrive in full force around mid-April.
The sparrows are furiously building nests in some of our bluebird boxes. I have to be vigilant in turfing out their nests as I’d like to encourage bluebirds, rather than sparrows, who have many other opportunities for nesting sites.
Another emblem of spring is bluebirds playing “nookey,” as a friend calls it, in the oak tree on our terrace—a sure sign that they’re ready to settle in one of the nesting boxes.
My days in the office, with a view of our pastures and pond, have been distracted by a pair of red-shouldered hawks. These magnificent raptors have been hunting our fields for the last three weeks. A friend first noticed the pair sitting in a cherry tree between our upper and lower pasture. We’re hoping they’ll stay around: chances are they’ve already built a nest somewhere around here. These buteos, a type of hawk, are perch hunters and will sit patiently scanning the fields for small rodents. My wife, Pam, is hoping they’ll take a liking to the voles and moles that have been raising havoc in our gardens. This is a good reason not to poison unwanted varmints, as they are the source of food for so many of our avian neighbors. The hawks, being at the top of the food chain, are particularly susceptible to the effects of poisons.
Now is a good time of year to start exploring our conservation land and other protected areas, like the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge. The migrants have started returning, some of them only staying a few days before continuing north to their summer nesting grounds. Take your binoculars and note key features of birds you’re not familiar with and look them up in your field guide—you’ll be amazed at the number of different birds out there as you really look and listen.
Birds seen around the farm in the last month include red-shouldered hawks, red-tailed hawks, a Cooper’s hawk (who swooped down and picked up a house sparrow at our platform feeder last week), a sharp-shinned hawk, and a lone osprey. The tree swallows and barn swallows are back for the summer, and are busy checking out the boxes and the barn. Cardinals, robins, and goldfinches are in full song, and the white-throated sparrows are joined by our usual flock of house sparrows and a couple of song sparrows, chipping sparrows, and American tree sparrows. The red-bellied, downy, and hairy woodpeckers keep feeding on the suet. Blue jays, grackles, cowbirds, red-wing blackbirds, and starlings make good use of our platform feeder, while every few days several vultures float over the farm. The nuthatches and bluebirds are present daily at our sunflower feeder, along with black-capped chickadees and the tufted titmouse. Soon the warblers will be returning and the real identifying challenge will begin.
David Durrant lives with his wife, Pam, on East Bare Hill Road at MichelDever farm where they run their business, Durrant Design, and watch birds—their own peacocks, chickens, and wild birds.
