Outdoors

A reader of this column sent me a message via the Canyon Courier this past week, saying she had seen a great blue heron along North Turkey Creek and was wondering if that was unusual. Yes, it is a bit unusual this early in the season.

I have been re-reading the new book, “Songbird Journeys” by Miyoko Chu. Since I read it the first time and mostly late at night, I didn’t retain some of its wonderful information.

So I am finding it most informative the second time around. Many of you have written or called me with questions about bird migration, so I had planned to write such an article for some time.

One of the most beloved birds across America is the little chipping sparrow. This little red-capped sparrow probably lived in or along the edge of natural openings in the forest, such as along streams and lakeshores or along the edge of natural clearings where trees had blown down or died from old age or other reasons.
Then when human beings started to make small clearings in the forest for their homes, towns and agriculture, the chipping sparrows found more habitat available and began to increase in numbers. Almost everyone seemed to have a pair nesting in their backyard.

Spring has been up to her fickle tricks again with a wet soggy snow last Wednesday, May 11, followed by an overcast day on Thursday, May 12. By late afternoon, she had apparently had enough of her sulking and cleared off to a partly blue sky and some very welcome sunshine.
My friend Loie Evans had taken me into town for a doctor’s appointment, and as we were headed home up Bear Creek Canyon, she was telling me all the interesting migrants she had seen on Wednesday at Evergreen Lake in the snow. As she ended an amazing list, she added, “But no pelicans.”