BIRDS

In the middle of this tree there is a hole in the branches.  You can blow it up as much as possible and you will see only a tiny spot of blue/gray that is the female Blue Heron resting there.  Every year for the first 1o I lived here the Great Blue Herons came into our wetland areas early in May.  They stayed a few days and then they moved on, leaving one mated pair who stayed in our valley until the fall when the rest of their flock rejoined them and they all went back south together.

The female died a long time ago.  We found her body and thought that would be the last we'd see of her mate but he came back for years, staying alone.  Finally, a few years back, he also died and although the herons stopped through every spring, no one stayed up Bard Creek.  

Yesterday I was wondering up the road, taking pictures when I looked up the hill;  there, flying down skimming tree tops was the pterodactyl shape of a Great Blue Heron.  It's been a long time and I was delighted!  Last year I was told a male stayed up here all season but I never saw him.  This year I definitely saw a female.  I'm excited and hoping another Blue Heron love story will be enacted in Empire.

Love and birds were in the air all day long.  My hummingbird feeders were loaded with the little buzz bombs. The huge old pine and spruce trees surrounding my place were so full of singing birds it made my ears ring.  The little red-headed sparrows stand on opposite sides of a feeder splashing sugar water out to drink.  Half a dozen robins stayed in the area and the juncos and bluebirds were everywhere.  It's like the bird world just returned in the last couple of days.  Slowly but surely all the signs leading up to summer are arriving.