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A Dark-eyed Junco sits on a snowy and icy white pine tree. I took this photo after the ice storm in early April.
A Dark-eyed Junco sits on a snowy and icy white pine tree. I took this photo after the ice storm in early April.
A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird rests in southern Texas on his way north for the breeding season. This photo was taken a few years ago in April.
Hermit Thrushes (Catharus guttatus) are the last of their genus to migrate south in the winter. This individual is one of several that have been feasting on pokeberries in my yard for the past couple of days.
Another spring photo for May. Here a Great Egret sleeps while standing over its nest and nestlings. A slight breeze ruffles the egret’s feathers, making its aigrettes, or plumes, easily visible. Great Egrets build stick nests in breeding colonies. A single stick from this individual’s nest is just visible poking out from the leaves in the lower left-hand corner.
Since this first post is taking place in April, here is a photograph full of signs of early spring in southern Maine: a Common Grackle and some pussy willows in a light snow. The willows were full of grackles calling and displaying to each other and this male has his head pointed up because he is about to call.
As with many birds, the winter ranges of Common Grackles are shifting along with climate change. Though they are generally short-distance migrants, a few individuals can now be found in Maine year-round, though the bulk of their population moves at least a little further south for the winter. Common Grackles are some of the earliest birds to return in spring in large numbers to Maine.