Depending on where you live, the landscape may already look like spring. Some regions have minimal snow cover while others still have a heavy blanket of white. Whichever applies to your area, it is important to keep your feeders stocked until insects are present in increasing abundance. For those that don’t feed in the warmer months, that means likely continuing until mid-May, but there is nothing wrong with feeding year-round.

The next few weeks will bring the initial waves of migrants. Waterfowl are building along the lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River before moving further north. Robins and blackbirds will be quite visible by mid-March, their cheery songs echoing across the southern part of the province. Early Phoebes and Bluebirds will be appearing in rural areas and Ring-billed Gulls will become a regular feature again along waterfronts as well as fast food parking lots. Who will be the first to hear a Killdeer calling above open fields? That is a sure sign of spring.

Happy Birding!

By Brian Morin

Publisher of Ontario Birding News