Sunday, March 29, 2009

An early visitor after turning on the stream

We turned on the pump on Friday, so the stream is flowing. It takes a while for birds to get comfortable with the change in their habitat, so it wasn't until Saturday that we had many birds visiting. I saw a few pine siskins ignore the pond, perching instead on the empty bird bath wondering where the water went. But once the birds got used to it, we've had a lot of activity. Robins especially enjoy taking multiple baths a day. The chickadees also have been bathing (and the starlings unfortunately). The biggest surprise, though, was hearing a toad singing last night (Saturday). Usually a welcome sound of spring, its early appearance this year - coming during the Earth Hour as we had our lights out - was a sad reminder of the problems ahead when the usual patterns are broken. Though this sole male didn't seem to attract any mates last night (I saw him alone in the skimmer this morning), I wonder what the effect of early mating might be. Will eggs laid too early hatch as well? Will the tadpoles find enough food? Anyway, I recorded the event with Frogwatch USA.

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