Wildlife: March "Firsts"! Birdsters please post your Sightings!, 1 by tabasco

tabasco wrote:
Birdsters! March roared in with a nasty snow storm last night and what are we to do?! My hopes of hummingbirds and bluebirds atwitter on my windowsill this morning are dashed!

But they are sure to arrive soon--by the vernal equinox, March 20, the official marker of Spring (in the Northern Hemisphere), we will find avian northern migrations beginning with lots of 'Firsts' to report here! Our posters in the South can give us news as the warblers, hummingbirds and orioles begin their journey back to the northern fields and woods and the Boreal Forest breeding grounds.

Birdsters who are watching for first Spring Hummingbird arrivals can help scientists by notifying Hummingbird Bird Mapping project of your sightings. We should try to do this: http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html A 'First' for me.

Hummingbirds will be here in Ohio around April 1-7, so March is the time to put up feeders to attract the first HB scouts from the South.

Those of us who are fascinated by Bluebirds (or who would like to be! :-) ) can get the basics on how to put up a BB nesting boxes from the North American Bluebird Society website: http://www.nabluebirdsociety.org/start.htm
March is the time to do this, too. So I hope to have a First BB this month too.

Here in Ohio it's time to start seed propagation for summer Bird and Butterfly Gardens. If Finches are your favor---pick up some Liatris bulbs at HD and start them in pots indoors this month. Here's a site that will give you more than you want to know about creating a habitat for birds this spring:
http://www.howtoattractbirds.com/links.htm There are lots of others, of course.

So, here we go Birdsters! A promising month for posting "Firsts" is in the making! Have a great day. t.

p.s. here's a pic of my feeder regulars this morning--it's 20 degrees and they are cold and hungry.

This month I am going to master the digital camera! I promise... ;-)