Greeted Sunday by getting up early to enjoy the valley!
Watched a “V” of geese go by… learned from birders yesterday that about this time Canada geese begin to flock up and continue to migrate northward. These are the geese that have not fledged any young this spring. Birders call it the “molt migration” as the geese will now begin to molt their breeding feathers. Preceded by weeks of loud honking as they begin to gather up. Usually occurs about June 1. The geese with hatchlings are now quite silent in order to protect the young.
We were stunned to see a pair of TRUMPETER swans fly along our hillside at almost eye level off the deck this a.m. Did they spend the night on the neighbors pond? Are they there now? That is a FIRST for the valley, I think.
Listened to wood thrush singing almost constantly through the morning, with their melodic “eolay”. Two, at least, calling back and forth between the two sides of our hill. We did hear them last year a few times, but they seem to have staked out our farm as territory this year.
Summer has settled in this weekend! Enjoy an outdoorsy holiday, friends!