Spring has Sprung

The following is a write-up from resident bird-watcher and aviary expert, John van der Linden:

The birds are FLOCKING -- and I don't mean our campus chickens! The first migrant wild birds of spring are starting to arrive on campus. Several people have been noticing the feisty robins flying around and making noise!
Last week American woodcocks were doing their aerial displays at dusk just southwest of Old Main, near the new hoophouse. Also the red-winged blackbirds can now be heard, singing in a large group nearby.

And, to top it all off -- a phoebe was calling this morning from the dead tree south of the gardens! (If you stand in the gardens and listen you might hear it -- "free-bee, free-bee, free-biscuits" -- this is lower and more nasally than the high whistled "fee-bee" we've been hearing from the chickadees recently.)

Phoebes like to nest under eaves (maybe they'll choose one of our campus sheds!) AND they are very beneficial -- they're a type of "flycatcher" that eats LOTS of bugs on the wing.

I think it's nice to know when the spring migrants are coming in, so we can have hope that warm temps and thawed ground are almost here!