Hendrie Valley, Burlington. ON. January 29, 2024. I think a hint of spring is the best and most precious commodity possible in January; it doesn’t have to be much. This mid-winter has been gloomy and wet, unseasonable; not steely bright-white and cold as Ontario Januarys have always been, or should be. Today delivered sunshine and a puff of warmer air, and as I left the house I could hear bird song – of a sort.
I had a chunk of time in hand before a meeting, so decided to walk a circuit around the valley. Bird-wise there was nothing unusual, nor should there be. It was a classic list of species-that-stay, including Carolina Wren, Black-capped Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatches, Dark-eyed Juncos, Mallards and Blue Jays.
More Blue Jays than I would have expected, and they set me wondering: were they all just winter locals of the wider area who happened to be in the valley today; perhaps just a band of wanderers; could they be early spring returnees; or are they a sign of climate changes and didn’t feel the need to go further south?
Notwithstanding the un-remarkableness of today’s birds, I think My Bird of the Day was an American Tree Sparrow, just one, and just a glimpse. Ten years ago, they were common winter visitors from much further north. It’s a pretty little sparrow, to look at they’re much like summer’s Chipping Sparrow and the coming and going, switching places by the two species seems almost coordinated, like a shift change.
Goodness knows we are aware of changes in the presence and absence of species over time. Carolina Wren and Turkey Vulture are both common now, though uncommon 40 years ago. Red-shouldered Hawk was once a frequent spring migrant passing-through, but no longer. And we’ve watched the virtual disappearance of Red-headed Woodpecker while Red-bellied Woodpeckers moved in in droves, almost as if to replace them. I’m sure populations and distributions have always ebbed and flowed, and this is not intended as a treatise on bird population changes wrought by climate change; a topic far too big.
Here’s a photo of my best bird, an American Tree Sparrow from 2016.
