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NEWS FROM THE NORTHERN OBSERVATION POSTS
April 12, 2005
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Joy
Hamilton: Innoko
River School, Shageluk, AK
April 9: I really can't believe it. The first Robin sighted and he was feeding
under MY feeders. I am honored! I thought I heard him singing yesterday! According
to our records he's a wee bit early. Last year our first Robin was sighted April
12. In 2003 the first was sighted April 17 and in 2002 May 2. Our
weather has been warm the last few days but not enough to justify the mean temp
theory of Robin migration.
Mike
Sterling, Anchorage, AK (Our Early Bird Contest Host School)
No robins, but coming through the Palmer Flats, a really big bird sanctuary,
on Sunday, we saw a big V of sandhill cranes AND a couple swans migrating through.
The thermometer reached 50 here in Anchorage yesterday. Robins can't be far behind,
eh?
Bruce
Bennett: Whitehorse, YT
No American Robins yet. I still have not seen any robins or
heard of any reports. I did see a hawk (although I'm not sure
if it
was a Harlen's or the dark phase of the Rough-legged on Wednesday
at km 1090 of the Alaska Highway) and a Sharp-shinned Hawk
on March 22 near Kluane. A few Bald Eagle's including one at
the
Kluane River on March 27th. I have driven the entire Yukon
section of the Alaska Highway twice since March 22 and talked
to a bunch
of people. The swans and some ducks and mergansers are back
as are Mountain Bluebird, Snow Buntings, American Pipits but
that
is it for now. We had some unusual spring sightings including
Herring Gulls and Canada Geese. It has been cold at night but
nice during the day
and there is still a lot of snow in the bush.
Shirley Bell: Pinawa,MB
04/07/05 This morning a single robin woke me up and I found him in
the trees. This evening there was a pair checking around the crabapple
tree. So officially
they are here in Pinawa. We are having wonderful weather. I don't know if we
will be sorry next week, but today it was sweater time. I even saw bare arms.
Ken Moore: Stirling, Alberta
April 9: This morning was the first time I heard a robin singing on territory
although others thought that they had heard robins singing prior to this. This
is the earliest I can confirm. Currently it's overcast with rain threatening,
only a bit of a southwest breeze and +5C at 6:30am. Yesterday's high was 15C,
no snow anywhere around, fairly brisk winds and overcast. We've had spring
like weather for quite some time.
Wayne Dwornik: Lethbridge, AB
April 11: Nothing real exciting here, as yet. A couple of robins hanging around
but not singing on territory.
Those house finches are singing up a storm tho' gotta love their song, in the
absence of others in my neighbourhood.
Dominique Cloutier: St Sauveur des Monts, PQ
I have a great piece of news, guess what ? We have 4 robins ;-) This is very
exciting. When I got home from work, they were trying to dig food from the
mess in front of our house! It's still rather dirty outside, and whatever grass
is
showing looks like a rundown carpet, but those brave little guys were there,
going through the dirt...! But we have a nasty blue jay; he can't stand anybody
around what he considers HIS tree and yard, so he chased them away. He can
be a mean little guy, and I thought only hummingbirds were territorial...well
you
should see this blue jay and my robins, LOL, LOL!! Mind you, the blue jay doesn't
always win, last summer he had to take off rather fast a couple of times!!
Ute Keitsch: Port Hope, ON
Wednesday April 6th I walked with
my Husband for 5 hrs the Port Hope Golf Course ALL ALONG LAKE ONTARIO. Old
growth Trees and shrubs al around .We saw about 20 Bonded pairs of Robins.
No Mistake
there. Also a Winter Wren, Kingfisher, 10 bonded Pairs of Cardinals (I never
seen so many close together, a chipmunk, lots of Red winged Blackbirds and
Grackles. We Have a Larch sitting on our roof in the morning greeting the sun
and us .
The White tailed Deer are coming into the Cornfield behind us almost every
day. I Will get back as soon I see nesting material being carried
Marc Landry: Beresford, NB
Yesterday (April 9) I saw 2 robins in my yard.... the migrants are here!
The snow is melting fast (even the one we had Thursday) and the temperature
is warmer.
Nancy Seamans: Quispamsis, NB
The robins are back! I've only seen one, but one of my students saw five on
their lawn today. We have wet rainy weather the last couple of days with today
bringing
the same. Our temperatures are around 5-8 degrees C during the day....so spring
is here... almost.
Linda Hoffman, Creston, BC
The first territory song I heard was on March 23rd. Since then I have seen
many frantic robin fights and the tree top singing announcing ownership of
a particular
area has been ongoing, especially in the early morning. It is truly amazing
that they don't run into trees, houses, etc. when they do their fighting. Sometimes
it seems pretty vicious but they don't seem to get
hurt.
Stan White, Homer, Alaska
We had a cold spell earlier this week that probably kept any Robins and other
migrants away. I went looking for ducks yesterday down by the bay's edge; I
found some over-wintering mallards and sea ducks, but no migrants yet. The
waterfowl
will probably start showing up within the next week or so, but we don't expect
Robins for another two or three weeks at least. It looks like it will be warming
up for a few days now, so our hopes are running high.
Margot Hervieux, Grande Prairie, AB
Spring is progressing as it should but no robins in Grande Prairie as of today,
April 8. One was seen about 20 miles west on Wednesday so they are in the neighbourhood.
I also heard a report of two near Cold Lake (north eastern Alberta) on April
2nd. There previous early arrival date was April 15th. It really should be
any day.
John Nagy, Inuvik, NT
Arrived back in Inuvik on 5 March and have just returned from 3 weeks in the
field, radio collaring barren-ground and boreal woodland caribou. Weather has
been in the -15 to -25 range for most of March, with a few days dipping down
to the -30 range--but with clear sunny days. Days are now quite long--not dark
at 10:00 pm and 5:00 am. According to the weatherman it sounds like the temperatures
are starting to moderate--were supposed to get up to -2 or -3 today. No robins
here yet--will
be at least another month before we expect them up here.
Sara Hepner, Sterling, AK
Magpies, gray jays and chickadees continue to inhabit the yard. No robins yet,
but we're almost ready for them. There's more bare ground than snow now, and
daytime temperatures are in the 40's. It's still freezing at night, and there
are snow and rain showers in the forecast, but it's definitely more spring
than winter. Kids are coming to school on bikes and roller blades, and they're
getting
soaked in puddles! Most of the playground is covered in packed snow, which
has now turned to ice. Our playground got sanded yesterday so it's not so treacherous.
We'll be happy to see it all
melt away so we can play on bare ground again.
Try This! Make Your Predictions
Copyright
2005 Journey North. All Rights Reserved.
Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to jn-help@learner.org
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