This morning, before the wind came up, I was out on the deck having coffee. Funny thing about the wind this time of year it determines if it is winter or spring. Calm days, the sun is intensely warm and even though the outside temperature might be in the minus teens, a t-shirt is sufficiently warm. By lunch the wind had come up and, even though there was no change in the air temperature, a ski jacket, touque and gloves were not warm enough.
But I digress, this morning having coffee I listened intently for birdsong. There should be birdsong, but except for one lone Raven, proclaiming to all the world that he was the handsomest bird around, there was nothing to be heard. The Snow Buntings have not begun singing in earnest, marking their territories, praising the light, explaining joy.
So I tell myself I must wait. Perhaps in a week or two the gulls will start to arrive, perhaps in a week or two more and more male Snow Buntings will wing their way to my little corner of the world. Perhaps it will be a week or more until I hear their sounds of joy, paving the way for the other singers, like the Lapland Longspur. There is plenty in nature in the High Arctic, you just have to learn to wait for it. Tomorrow perhaps. Perhaps the day after.
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We’re just at the point where the passage of migrating birds is ending, leaving us with our summer birds. Those heading further north are all gone. Perhaps some will get to Ikpiajuk, who knows these days…?
I just finished reading Ernie Lyall’s autobiography. Great read. I was amazed to read he and others used to cross the ice of Prince Regent Sound to Arctic Bay from Somerset Island years ago! I wonder if people would dare do that these days…
You never know what is going to show up Michael, I’ve seen lost Barn Swallow and last year there was a pair of White-throated Sparrows at the dump.
Depending on the year it is possible to cross over to Fort Ross, and other parts of Somerset. This year for instance most of the sport hunters were over on Prince Regent Sound and crossed it.
There are a number of people in town who used to live near Fort Ross including Shooyook who was involved in a famous judicial case over there.
Bird question Clare. Feeder in my backyard in Edmonton, mostly chickadees and sparrows but one that is brown and size of sparrow but with red down the front? Any ideas?
Hi Bonnie,
Hard to say exactly, but there are a couple of possibilities that spring to mind immediately. Purple Finch (“a sparrow dipped in rasberry juice”) or Red Poll (which would have a red cap and a red wash on its breast)