Did you feel the cosmic shudder at 4:21 AM? It was the sun getting ready to rise earlier and earlier, making the days longer and the nights shorter. The Winter Solstice…my very favourite day of the year. The marking of the sun’s return bringing light and warmth, waking a frozen earth, and inducing birds to take on their monumental migrations.
A female Horned Lark, one of 25 larks caught this morning. =SGS
A small group of us celebrated this momentous event at the York Airport with a flighty group of Horned Larks and Snow Buntings. Forty to fifty of the former and about 10 of the latter at any one time. The lingering question: when a group flies in to the bait area, are they the same birds simply returning after a short fly-around? Or are they “new” birds coming in for their first feed of the day? The outcome? A resounding “well maybe some of them are new and some, I think, are just returnees”. An incisive answer for sure.
We could certainly use more snow – 2-3 cm won’t last long despite the -10 C. temperatures. But it was enough this morning to allow us to capture and band 25 Horned Larks and a solo Snow Bunting.
Our neighbourhood American Kestrel paid a visit. All the larks and buntings scattered and didn’t return for about half an hour – shortly after the predator flew off. -SGS
Rick