A Harbinger

This morning we are hearing red-winged blackbirds, clearly a harbinger of spring, right?  I realized I’ve had this thought and probably said it aloud many, many times during the late winter over the years.

But what is a harbinger?  I don’t really know where the word comes from.   You’ll know, but I don’t.  So I looked it up.

Well, there is an archaic use of harbinger.  That is “a person sent ahead to provide lodgings.”  I guess that is pretty much what Mister RWBG is doing out there today.  And the more modern usage “something that foreshadows a future event: something that gives an anticipatory sign of what is to come” seems to fit too.  But it must be noted there is another meaning  i.e., “one that initiates a major change : a person or thing that originates or helps open up a new activity, method, or technology.” 

Anyway,  I can report that there are many harbingers of spring around Port Rowan/Long Point these days.

Long Point Bird Observatory (LPBO) reports  that great numbers of birds are already arriving in Long Point Bay. Tundra Swans, 1000’s of Canvasback and Redhead, & a good mix of other species are here. There are still a lot of Sandhill Cranes around too.  Karen saw big numbers landing in the fields to the west of

us on Saturday evening.

Here is a recent listing from e-Birds that will give you an idea of what has been seen in the area in recent days.
https://ebird.org/canada/subnational2/CA-ON-NF?yr=all

LPBO Notes

Some other interesting local stories picked up from LPBO’s twitter feed @LongPointBirdOb include:

·       **The Northern Saw-whet Owls banded at LPBO were found elsewhere and recently reported to LPBO.   Both were caught at Watters Smith Memorial State Park, West Virginia, which is 380 km to the south of us. One of those #owls was recaptured only 6 days after being banded at LPBO.

·    **Stu Mackenzie, LPBO’s Director of Migration Ecology, reports on the Swainson’s Thrush that was wearing a band from another observatory when caught here last May.  It was banded near Bath, MI, 330 km west of Long Point, in Aug 2018.

Details on upcoming LPBO activities can be found at https://birdscanada.org/longpoint/images/LPBTbrochure.pdf

Cheers,

Karen, Graham and Bob