First Arrivals (pic )

[jonny_redhorse]

a for sure sign of spring!...Honker here looking for some open water...Dream on big fella!...nothing around Hibbing here that's a for sure!...still 36" of ice on the lakes

[Dbl]

I think he wandered north a bit early!

[finnbay]

I was driving down to Virginia today and saw a lone honker fly across the road. My wife figured it was an advance scout. Forgot about Silver Lake until we went by it. It's open and must have 500 geese, some mallards and another 500 sea gulls on it!

[Steve Foss]

That swan I posted a week ago came from the Shagawa River here in Ely, where there's some open water.

Not ENOUGH open water!

Nice shot, Jonny.

[boatfixer]

I was sitting on Big Cutfoot Thursday AM and 2 Swans came cruising by.

[jonny_redhorse]

these geese got her figured out!....10,000 years of flying north to the nesting grounds and a "built in" GPS"...lol! ...there might not be water at "this" old spot but I bet he'll find it one way or another ...this pic was taken by the "pond" near the Hibbing hospital right in town....no doubt raised on this little body of water or one of the dozens of mining pits near by...they have a great memory for sure!....amazes me how wildlife finds the same spot year after year with thousands of miles in between.....When you think about it ,there always has to be one, lone adventurous soul of a bird willing to be the first one to make the journey north to "break ice" .....I also saw a lone, flying sandhill crane(could plainly hear it's "raucous call")

while on my morning drive down to the "bog"....that area has some huge secluded fields where I've seen many sandhills during the "green" months....never ever saw one this early though...

[icehousebob]

As I'm reading this, the local pair of geese who have been landing on the pond ice every day for a week had a challenger land there too. There is now a goose chase going on. The local team appears to be winning.

[Paul]

that is a great shot Johhny. I have been seeing a lot of activity here the southern end of the Red River valley. Was 53 degrees tonight at 7:30pm. Only a matter of time.

[icehousebob]

I had two pairs of geese come to within twenty feet of the house yesterday to feed on the spillage from the bird feeders. Why is it they can share that small an area and not want to share a pond that is over 125 yards long?

[DMN]

Jonny

Nice lonesome goose.

What I find even more amazing are Monarch butterflies that migrate and I don't think any single one lives long enough to have made the entire trip before to show the way.

DMN

[icehousebob]

This morning, two pairs of Woodies showed up on the pond to join the Mallards and the geese. And I haven't cleaned out the wood duck houses yet. I'm a bad person. There's about twenty feet of open water on my end of the pond and the group takes turns swimming there. They discovered The deer feeding station by the pond and have been cleaning up the spill from there. Its time to put out the waterfowl food down there.

My bride and I did some figuring this winter and it looks like we spent more on bird and wildlife food per week this winter than we spent on food for ourselves when we first got married.

[MJCatfish]

We have lots of lowland around our house. My son and I were toolin' through the trees with the atv yesterday and came upon a spot where the deer had scratched their way through 12" of fresh snow and turned up some leaves. We saw something move in the scratching and spied a woodcock. It was probing for worms or grubs I suspect. He looked at us from a distance of about 6 ft, but didn't fly. We backed away and left him. I went into the house to grab the camera and walked to within 20 feet of him trying to get a photo. Wouldn't you know it. . . he flew away with no camera shot.

We do have some nesters around here, but I don't recall seeing them this early, yet in all this snow. It was a fun find.

MJ

[icehousebob]

New arrivals on the pond today. There were three Egrets this afternoon joining a big bunch of Woodies and there were a few Mallard hens joining the drakes. I also saw the first Kingfisher of the year. The Woodie drakes have been swimming alone for short periods here. Is it the time for the hens to be in the boxes laying eggs already?

[Dotch]

Had wood ducks nesting in early April last year and the eggs froze. They abandoned the nest and a starling tried to take over the nesting box. Took matters into my own hands on that deal. Saw my first yellow rumped warbler of the spring tonite after chores. They're comin' your way, youse gice up nort!