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Wednesday, February 1, 2012 1937 - 2012 · Celebrating 75 Years Orono Weekly Times - 9 Can Spring be that far off? by Jim Richards With the exception of ski hill operators and their faithful patrons, a few tow truck drivers and perhaps the body shops, I think most would agree that we've enjoyed a "good" winter thus far; not much snow, and rather tolerable temperatures. That could all change real quick, as I recall some of our worst winter storms occurring in February and even March. However, try telling that to our native birds. Most of us grew up hearing that American Robins are the harbingers of Spring. Not so in my mind! Oh yes, when they return in mid-March and immediately start to sing while staking out their first brood territories, it certainly is a welcome sign, but the true vanguards are perhaps the Horned Larks. Beginning about this time of year, people start to report seeing American Robins. Truth is, many American Robins spend the entire winter with us in the sheltered creek valleys, feeding on the fruit of cranberries, elderberries, apples, Mountain Ash and rose hips. However, come mid-March, it is refreshing to see and hear them en masse once again. Horned Larks on the other hand (the subspecies that breeds here) usually start to show up in the first few days of February each year, and can be seen feeding along rural roadsides in small groups. The bulk of them start to pour into southern Ontario in mid-February. I mention subspecies because the prairie subspecies can be found here during the winter months of December through February, usually associating with flocks of Snow Buntings and a few Lapland Longspurs. They are usually encountered foraging in fields where manure has been freshly spread, as they feed on undigested seeds. Horned Larks are certainly among our earliest breeding birds as well, and by mid-March, many of them are nest-building and egg-laying, even when snow is still on the ground. The grass nest is a compact cup, well lined, and constructed in a slight depression in the A Great Horned Owl incubates eggs in a nest near Bethany. photo by Jim Richards ground. They usually favour a site with stubble, short dead grass or sparse vegetation, and the nest is usually some- what exposed, hidden partially by a tuft of dead grass. Four to five eggs is a normal set. Incubation is performed by the female alone and hatching takes about twelve days. However, the real champion of Ontario breeding birds when it comes to nesting early is the Great Horned Owl. Occupied nests have been found as early as mid-January, and certainly by the first week of February, most are starting to incubate, regardless of the weather conditions or temperature. Any readers residing in the outer reaches of Clarke and Darlington, and near woodlots, will encounter at this time of year, the 5-hoot call of Horned Owls. The typical and rapid "who-whowho" followed by an additional "who-who" is a familiar evening sound to rural residents at this time of year. Horned Owls do not build their own nest, using instead, old stick nests of Red-tailed Hawks, American Crows and the abandoned leafy nests of Gray Squirrels. Occasionally they will nest in tree cavities. One to three chalky-white eggs (usually two) are considered a "normal" clutch or set, which are incubated for about 31 days, by the female only. Two of the more dramatic migration spectacles will appear in late February through late March. In southwestern Ontario at Long Point on Lake Erie, thousands of migrating Tundra (Whistling) Swans will stage in the wetlands there before moving north to their Arctic breeding grounds. Likewise, in eastern Ontario and into the western portions of Quebec, thousands of Snow Geese will descend on farm fields there to feed for a few weeks in March before making their epic journey to the Arctic to breed. On January 25, our Editor, Marg Zwart, observed and photographed an adult Redshouldered Hawk along Highway #2, just east of Newcastle. While not rare, seeing this species in winter here in Durham Region is certainly unusual and uncommon at best.