Tree Buds, Ants, and Birds

The flower buds on my red maples are swollen and ready to pop open. Last year these trees flowered on March 15, and it looks like they are right on schedule for that date this year. This morning I watched a red squirrel and then a much larger gray squirrel shinnying out on the thin, terminal branches of the maples to bite off the nutrient rich buds. The squirrels are getting a much appreciated, I am sure, fresh meal, and are also very effectively pruning the flowers out to the very delicate, very terminal branches of the trees.

My cat showed me another sign of spring yesterday afternoon. She was walking in tiny, mincing steps across the floor of the kitchen. Her body was tense and focused and her nose was almost touching the surface of the floor. She was stalking a tiny ant that had just made its late winter/early spring emergence from its overwintering nest probably out in one of our flower beds or under the concrete pieces of our sidewalks. These little ants (often called “sugar ants” but, probably more accurately called “pavement ants”) are alien, invasive species from Europe that came to North America in the 17th and 18th Centuries in off-loaded ship ballast. They are interesting to watch (both for cats and biologists), but they can get too numerous and too persistent in their exploration of our floors, tables, and kitchen counters. Last year Deborah spread cinnamon at the ant entrances around our kitchen window and door and had very good success in discouraging their access to the house.
 
Arriving birds: A blackbird showed up this week around my front yard bird feeder. A few blackbirds come in every year and their arrival starts an annual field guide and internet search for what kind of blackbird it is. This one is too small for a grackle, not colored like a cowbird, and hasn’t any bright red/orange shoulder epaulets of the red-winged blackbird.  I settled on the “rusty blackbird,” but its eyes don’t seem quite white enough for that. I will keep watching and thinking about it. Robins are abundant and common now. The male goldfinches are showing bright yellow colors. The male and female sharp-shinned hawks are perching noisily up in the black locust trees. There are flocks of bluebirds with incredibly showy males up in the local woods and also on campus. I haven’t heard any more screech owls lately, but it is fun to listen for them. The tropical migrants (the grosbeaks and tanagers and the warblers) and the more local migrants (like the towhees) should all be showing up very soon.
 

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