17 March 2014. Vinemount ON. Still looking for spring. The forecasters are all saying that today will be our last day of negative temperatures; we’ll see. In the faint hope that the tentative warmth of a few days ago had made a difference, I drove around a rather dreary area of waterlogged farms hoping for standing water with ducks, or better yet, Tundra Swans, but nothing. But…those waterlogged fields are vast expanses of gleaming ice and when it all melts (any day now ?) I predict they will be very enticing stopover spots for waves of migrant ducks, swans, and snipe
Birds of the Day were three wind-tossed Turkey Vultures sailing along the sharp edge of the limestone escarpment that dominates our landscape. Their course is one used by thousands of migrant raptors every spring. The abrupt escarpment lies close to the south shore of Lake Ontario and winds off the water create a cushion wave that holds these birds aloft as they head around the lake on their spring journey northwards.
The first parade of spring Turkey Vultures is usually a celebration for me, but somehow today’s scattered trio lacked the optimism that should come with heading for a place to call home for the summer, it seemed to be more of a foolhardy challenge to the frozen ground than anything else. I guess they’ll survive; after all negative temperatures are about to be a thing of the past.
Ya, I saw one Turkey Vulture today from my balcony on the lake. Just one. It made me hopeful that they know better weather’s on the way and thus they’ve returned! I figure he has plenty to eat from all the poor critters that didn’t survive the harsh winter.