Sublime Sunday - Rain has the Forest and Pond Area Teaming with Bird Life...

We had our first rain of the season and what a difference it made!
It's lovely to smell the moist air and the forest is becoming alive with a chorus of birds!

Flock of House Finches Sitting in the Cotton Wood Trees

The buds on the cottonwoods had opened looking like a pussy willow and the finches were feeding off them.

Close Up of 3 Male House Finches

It is the finches you hear in the video below along with some wrens. They have quite a lovely song!

All sorts of birds are returning for this is the breeding area for many song birds.

We had dozens of dark eyed juncos this year which have been hanging around for quite some time and I have never seen such numbers before!

Right after the rain I stepped out to find the Juncos happily chirping away feeding under the bushes by the feeder, it was lovely to listen to!

Flocks of geese and cranes have returned and I've seen a number of pairs of ducks.

I had been hearing the cranes for quite some time then finally I was able to capture a few shots of them as they came to the open area which usually has water in it.

Close Up Pair of Cranes in Flight

Cranes Find a Choice Spot Under the Spruce Tree

The crane felt challenged by the geese and the male put on quite a display jumping up in the air and flapping it's wings, defending it's area and mate.

There were flocks of geese coming to different areas around our place and I got a few good shots down by the pond which was had water on it from the melted snow.

Close Up of Geese in Flight

Pair of Geese In Flight Coming To Pond Behind Spruce

Goose Stretching Its Wings

Trees Reflected In the Pond Where Lots of Bird Life Is

Other birds we saw by the pond area were the red winged black bird, a cute American tree sparrow and flocks and flocks of robins!

2 Red-winged Black Birds Sitting on the Branch of a Poplar Tree

Here you can hear it's lovely call -

Cute Little American Tree Sparrow

It started out I saw one robin on top of the spruce tree, then I really began to think it was spring, then we had the rain and flocks of them started showing up. Now I truly know it's Spring and I'm so happy for it!

First Robin of the Year Sitting on Top of Spruce Tree

Flock of Robins on the Cotton Wood Tree

3 Robins Happy By the Water

Another bird that I saw that I had never seen before and never saw again after the one sighting as a flock flew over and stopped for a bit on the poplar tree - the snow bunting. Doing some research to see what type of bird they were I found out that the snow bunting breed in the arctic and come down to the prairies for easy availability of food in the winter but they usually fly directly over the boreal forest where we live. I felt lucky to have caught these few photos!

Snow Buntings Resting in the Poplar Tree

Close Up Snow Bunting

The rain really brightened up the colors on the red osier dogwood and golden willows which we had planted to add some winter color.

Red Osier Dogwood and Golden willows Right After a Rain

The combination of the rain and the melting snow had the water running pretty good across our property and there was a spot right by a bright red osier dogwood that it sounded like a babbling brook. It kind of reminded me of a Japanese Zen garden with the sound of the water and the simple design of the red dogwood branches - what do you think?

This is my Amazing Nature Contest entry. See details here

It is also my entry for the Photo52 Challenge Week #17 with a theme of "Life" Details here

Plus I have many #featheredfriends which is hosted by @melinda010100

All photos were taken with my Canon Powershot SX60 HS

Thanks for stopping by!

Discover previous ecoTrain magazines at @ecoTrain plus news on the Eco-Village at www.ecovillages.io

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