The spring of 2015 is on track to be one of the earliest on record with ornamental cherry trees on the Sunshine Coast beginning to bloom in late February rather than late March. Other flowering garden shrubs such as forsythia, clematis and even magnolia are in bloom and of course, the daffodils. In the mountains the ski resorts are closed and snowpack in the mountains of south-western B.C. is at a mere 10 to 15 per cent of normal levels, likely predicting water problems in the months ahead and perhaps a bad fire season.
The natural world is responding to the warm temperatures and bright sunshine by waking from its winter slumber and the birds and frogs are singing and the bees and butterflies are back on the wing.
The bird songsters include Pacific wrens in the forest, Hutton’s vireos in the treetops, and juncos and towhees around gardens and feeders. Members of the woodpecker family are drumming on their favourite sounding boards, often metal chimneys and flashing. At dusk robins are squawking their territorial disputes with their neighbours. And if you listen closely, there is the gentle tremeloe of the varied thrush. After dark, particularly on moonlit nights, the Pacific chorus frogs are in full voice. The singing of the birds fulfills their evolutionary purpose of courtship and breeding, but it also speaks to we humans of the joy of song and music and rebirth after the winter doldrums. Truly creation is a magical place!
Every March Sunshine Coast birders eagerly await three iconic species that definitively announce the arrival of spring. The first Rufous hummingbird was reported at Chris Allen’s West Sechelt feeder on March 7, an early date, but not a record.
A yellow-rumped warbler was found at Sargeant Bay on March 1 and a bird was singing on Redrooffs Road on March 9, both early dates for this species.
Surprisingly, there have been no reports of swallows, as these birds sometimes appear by the end of the first week of March. The first turkey vulture was reported over Sechelt on Feb. 24 and this species often returns in February.
Saturday, March 7 was a stunning spring day and while I was out birding, a shadow flitted by that soon revealed itself as a Milbert’s tortoiseshell butterfly, an early date for this species.
To report your sightings, or questions, contact Tony at [email protected] or call 604-885-5539.
