Will the winter ever end? The first week of April

It's finally starting to feel more like spring every day, though slowly. But if you check the weather as frequently as I do or you're reading Brandon's weather bird blog you'll know that we're still going to be getting at best seasonal temperatures for the next while. I'm OK with seasonal temperatures at this point.

Thankfully, the worst is likely behind us and we are into April. The birds that will arrive over the next 3-4 weeks are a bit less dependent on weather than March migrants, so we'll probably stay pretty much "on schedule" from here on out, despite cooler weather.

Personally, I had a great start to April with a big movement of birds all day going past my office window. Check out my eBird checklist from the morning - I tried my best to work but almost 10,000 Canada Geese going by is a bit of a distraction! I've got my yard list up over 50 species now with my first Tree Swallow this morning.

10,000+ Canadas and 152 Snow Geese passed by on April 1

Two Snow Geese right over my house!

This is 1 of 2 (the ugly one) Red-shouldered Hawks from 1 April

I had a meeting in Prince Edward County yesterday evening so on the way made a quick stop at Kaiser X-Road. This place is great all spring because there is a big flooded field that attracts waterfowl and later on shorebirds and Little and Bonaparte's Gulls. It was still mostly ice covered but there were loads of waterfowl including Snow Goose and Tundra Swan. Here's the full list.

Anyways what do we have to look forward to arriving this week? Lots! Many of these species have already begun arriving in the extreme SW part of the province (and beyond) so keep an eye out for them this week:

01 April -	Bonaparte's Gull
02 April -	Double-crested Cormorant
	Tree Swallow
03 April -	Great Egret
	Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
	Field Sparrow
	Vesper Sparrow
04 April -	Osprey
06 April -	Common Loon
	Sharp-shinned Hawk
	Greater Yellowlegs
07 April -	Cooper's Hawk
	Hermit Thrush

Osprey on nest

One of my favourite signs of springs is when Ospreys show up back on nests. They are always really amazing because it seems like one day there are none and then the next day all of a sudden almost every nest  is occupied.