It just doesn't seem to end. Get a couple of days of nice weather, then another Arctic front comes swooping down bringing snow, fierce winds (gusting up to 45 mph yesterday), and cold air. I think we're paying the price for the Spring-like weather had in January and early February. Interestingly, I have been looking back and putting together a little spreadsheet with last year's and this year's "first sightings" for the first 3 months. The mild weather we had experienced seems to come into play as, almost across the board, everything is earlier this year. In fact, Ring-necked Ducks, Redhead, and American Coot were more than a month earlier thanks to a pond that was free of ice down in Tropic in early February. There are a few others, however, that I have yet to see; I had my first Killdeer, for example, on March 18 last year, but still looking for one this year. Still, overall, it appears that the majority of migrants will be earlier in 2009 when compared to 2008.I Had my first Pied-billed Grebe (pictured, from Florida) on April 1 last year, but if there isn't a sudden change in the weather in the next couple of days, this species will be later this time. The Sun is supposed to be out tomorrow, but more Arctic weather is forecast to be right behind that . . .
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