Summer Visitors here Already!



Jerry Schmanda photo

There was a tree swallow sitting on the hydro wire on April 8. That's early.  Last year, the swallows came back April 4 -- about three weeks before they usually cruise on in.  This year, with Spring not arriving quite so soon as it did last year, we worried about this harbinger, hoping this little bird will be able to find enough to eat while the weather warms.

There is something infinitely cheering about watching swallows in flight, and while it is true that one swallow does not make a summer, a summer without swallows is lacking in joy, so we are always happy to see them.  Now we've got to get cracking and get the bird boxes back up, ready for the rest of them to arrive! They like to have a choice of houses.



Within four days, the weather changed.  A big storm blew through on Sunday. Monday presented with strong winds that dried the land. Our lawn transformed from a blanket of white to a patchwork of shades of green.

Flowers pushed up through the wet ground in gardens that were buried under snow a week past.   A pair of Canada geese arrived in the bay.  This was a bit of a yawn after seeing literally thousands of them while in Winnipeg, a major stop-over on the main migration fly-way.  All the same, those brave V's flying north announce the season's change more clearly than any calendar.

The ice on the bay darkened.  This is the first step to melting:  the darker the ice, the sooner it is about to leave the bay.  It's later than last year, when it was gone by April 1, but earlier than other years when it has lingered into May.

And at 5.30 today, a pair of loons took advantage of the open water by the main dock.  One overflew the lake last week, calling in flight. Of the four main loon calls, there is only one they use when flying, and it is that lovely, haunting laugh.

Welcome back. Good to see you here again!