The Wildlife Drive at Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge opened for the season on Saturday April 23rd. On May 3rd I made my first circuit of the year as a Roving Wildlife Interpreter. The bright sun, blue sky and small clumps of white clouds cast a strange light on the brown remnants of last years vegetation. The long cold winter and our cold spring weather seem to have retarded that welcome first flush of green. Birds were not plentiful. The only advantage in having no green grass in most areas was that the little ground-dwelling birds that normally hide there were fully exposed to view. Good for birders perhaps, but not good for the birds.
Eventually I came across this woodcock, a bird that spends spring evenings in charming ritual mating flights. It is one of the icons of spring in our part of the birding world. This funny little bird, rocking forward and back as though hearing some mysterious dance beat, kicked my spirits up several notches. Maybe real spring weather is just around the corner.
Eventually I came across this woodcock, a bird that spends spring evenings in charming ritual mating flights. It is one of the icons of spring in our part of the birding world. This funny little bird, rocking forward and back as though hearing some mysterious dance beat, kicked my spirits up several notches. Maybe real spring weather is just around the corner.
