The bay has broken up, seems like it happened Friday night. The river is open and the birding is on in earnest. The bay is full of floes and we will be watching them until into the summer going back and forth with the tide.

Birds... There is a Perigrin nest and no I'm not telling where, it is in the Churchill area how's that? We've seen Least and Stilt Sandpipers, the Short-billed Dowichers are here and we've had spotty sightings of Hudsonian Godwits, there should be more now.

Dr. Birder had a Swainson's Thrush at Cape Merry which is weird it is not the proper environment for them at all. He told us about Eared Grebes and we found them which was a life bird for both of us.

The Horned Larks and the Lapland Longspurs are so fat right now they must be getting ready to go further north. It took us a while to recognise the Larks they look like little butterballs. We had a Yellow Warbler at the Weir and we were also seeing Redpolls flit about so they are probably feeding the kids. A researcher at the Study Centre is reporting seeing a Northern Wheatear at halfway point so we may go head out for that. Both the Blackbellied and Golden Plovers are here, we saw Golden but no Blackbellied as yet. We have one Loon on the list for the year, Pacific and are now looking for a Red-necked and a Common, now that the Bay is open that should be easy.

A surprising thing this year is the number of American Pipits, I don't know if I just didn't notice them in other years but there seems to be lots. The same goes for European Starlings and American Robins there are everywhere you look, the Starlings are still in big flocks.

No Ross's Gull yet.

What a mess....

There was nobody there that cared about the birds themselves. They pulled up in an open half ton truck and the crowd pushed to look into the crates. These birds had already taken one flight and overnighted in Winnipeg, took another flight, were loaded into the truck and then passed around for about 15 minutes until they finally let them go. I felt like I was at a zoo and I hate zoos.

This was supposed to be a release back to the wild and it turned into the Boy Scout Leader and Harry Potter's bird. No regard was taken for the welfare of the birds, there was no Conservation Officers in attendance and the only people that seemed bothered were the birders in the crowd. There were people standing in the sightline of the birds so they wouldn't take off, flash cameras going off through the slates of the crates, what a mess but the birds are now free and didn't look any worse for wear, I probably took it harder than they did.

It begs the question, where do we think we get the right? It's like my hatred of zoos, we put them in an unnatural environment and then want them to act naturally. I don't even know where we think we get the right to even see a wild creature. When I am out birding I try to remember that the bird is allowing me to see it, it is not my right to see it at all. Anytime that a wild thing gives me the pleasure of spending time with it no matter how fleeting I try to thank it for allowing me.

the Churchill Northern Studies Centre has just announced that they will be releasing 5 Snowy Owls rehabilitated at the Owl Foundation in Ontario. I don't know why they are coming here but we're more than happy to have them.

They did this about 4 years ago and it was crazy, all of the photographers fighting for the perfect angle and standing right in the sight line of the birds. It was getting close to the time when Natural Resources called a halt to the whole thing and rescheduled when the photogs finally got the point and moved. This after being asked by everyone involved, it took them seeing that the birds were not going to leave the crates to finally move cause if they stood where they were they were never getting a chance at the perfect shot.

No I don't hate all photographers just the ones that ask me where the nests are and stand and walk where they shouldn't because they think they're special. Some seem to get tunnel vision, it seems not to be about the bird any more but the picture.

I wonder all the time if I am really a birder. I do keep lists, two of them, my year list and my life list and I am sure that I would make mention of where I was birding if not in Churchill. My lists do not include the weather of the day, who spotted what, who IDed what and so on. I also heard that if there was no one to confirm what I saw I couldn't list it. BUNK! If I say I saw it, I saw it, for me it's just that simple.

When it comes down to it they are my lists and I will keep them as I like. It's just that I read in places like Bird Forum that there are so many rules to keeping lists and that unless birds are confirmed by others they should not be listed as sightings. BUNK! Again if I say I saw it I saw it, if you choose to believe me good, if not that's good too.  Perfect example is a Belted Kingfisher on a power line on one of our roads. My birding mentor had just driven by and I asked if she had seen it, she said no but also didn't tell me that I shouldn't list it. Yes it was a quick look and no she didn't see it, it is not common around here but she didn't say it might be, she said good for you and wished she'd seen it. Did I list it? You're darned tootin and it made my life list and that's where it's staying.

And after my list rant the Snow Geese arrived as far as I know on the 9th of May and the only new development is the White Crowned Sparrow. I saw him first on May 15, actually I heard him first and had to look for him. We call him Mr. goosie, he's my birding partners memory bird. She grew up here and his song is the sound track of summer. When she was little her dad said that it was her bird because his song is MistaGooosiesqueshis and that means little white girl in the Cree language, she was the lightest of his native children.

Okay the weather sucks, even when we can get out to see something there is nothing to see. We have been out for two days now and all we see is raptures, don't get me wrong I love a good killing bird but I'm in the mood for something new.

The weather was making it look as if spring was going to be really early but now the past three weeks or so its been below zero and the wind has rarely been anything but from the north so now it looks as if we are back on track.

We went for a short ride yesterday and the Snow Geese have made their appearance, we saw at least 7 flocks of about 50 birds each. They are still really high so in a couple of days they should be close enough for the hunters to start shooting. It's kind of funny birding while they are falling from the sky.

When we were out we were stopped by a group of people from another community and they told us of a Polar Bear they had seen. We looked at each other like, no way, and there are reasons for not believing 1. the bay is still covered in ice 2. the bay is still covered in ice and 3. the bay is still covered in ice. We may get the odd straggler bear when the ice breaks up into floes but that is very rare and it is usually a bear in trouble, bad teeth, too old, too young it could be anything but that also means that if that hungry bear was walking by a goose camp full of all those smells there would have been dead people or a least a dead bear. Later in the day we heard that it was a Barren Land Grizzlie and the people from parks got pictures of it. Now that makes sense. Then we were wondering if the people from out of town thought that Polar Bears turned brown when it wasn't winter like an Arctic Hare or a Ptarmigan, anything is possible I suppose.

1  Canada Goose                                      lots

2  Snow Bunting                                       2,000,017 at  the port of Churchill

3  Common Redpoll                                  lots

4  Hoary Redpoll                                      lots but not as many as common

5  American Tree Sparrow                        lots and lots now we know his song

6  Fox Sparrow                                        4

7  Gray Jay                                               many many

8  European Starling                                  10

9  Rusty Blackbird                                      6

10 Northern Pintails                                100's

11 Northern Shovelers                              15

12 American Wigeon                                 20

13 Mallard                                              100's

14 Bufflehead                                              2

15 Herring Gull                                         lots

16 Ring-billed Gull                                    lots

17 American Robins                                 too many

18 Dark-eyed Junco                                 more than I've seen any other year

19 Bald Eagle + Juvenile                            2

20 Osprey                                                 1

21 Rough-legged Hawk + Juvenile             8

22 Merlin                                                   2

23 Northern Flicker                                    2

24 Boreal Chickadee                                  2

25 Northern Harrier                                   many many

26 Common Raven                                    they're everywhere

27 Rock Ptarmagin                                    3 one trying to be an eagle

28 Willow Ptarmigan                                  1

29 House Sparrow                                     we don't count them

30 Pine Grosbeak                                       8

I work security at the complex in town. It's a 220,000 sq foot building full of windows and most of the things you want to do in town. The building is full of plants and trees that have been here for more than twenty years. We have always had problem with the small plants in the building but now someone has ripped two large ficus trees out by the roots. It would have taken more than one person to do this damage and now I don't even know what to do to save them. These were beautiful trees, huge leafy canopies like great big umbrellas, it breaks my heart. I'm going to search the net and see if anyone can give me hints on how to save the poor things.

The weather sucks!!!!!

We just had another blizzard and everything is again covered in snow and ice. Hopefully this will be the last one. Last week we were driving around watching everything quickly melt, commenting on how fast it was all going and bam, blizzard. Winds 70 K and 5 cm of snow and now we start all over again. The temperature is now a balmy -4 C. Oh well, same thing every year and every year we believe it is actually spring.

The birds were starting to arrive in earnest and this probably set them back at least a couple of days or so. Everyone says that this is the storm that will bring the snow geese. The Canada's have been here for about three weeks but even they aren't here in any great numbers, the hunters aren't really going out yet just for one or two for the soup pot.

My birding partner is broken, E. stretched the ligaments in her knee and now she can't walk, it makes us have to adapt. Sometimes I have to get out of the vehicle, find the bird and then position the vehicle so that she can see him, we flush a lot of birds.

We've been out quite a bit as the weather has been great until yesterday's blizzard. We should be used to it by now, but no. Now that the storm is over people say the Snows will come, maybe it's true, E. saw either a Snow or a Ross's Goose last evening, Gordon shot at it but missed, now he says it's bad luck to kill the first one you shoot at. The first Canada Geese arrived in mid April and the Redpolls seem to be nesting as we are not finding many. We saw  European Starlings on the day we figure that they got here, they weren't here one day and then we saw lots the next. We've seen many American Tree and Fox Sparrows. Its seems like more Dark-eyed Juncos than any other year, many of the ducks are here but we are waiting for Scaups, Oldsquaws, Eiders and Loons. There are so many raptures about, some people are telling us about a Gyrfalcon (white) but we think it's a Juvenile Rough Legged Hawk, we're also hearing of a Golden Eagle but we're seeing a Juvenlie Bald.

We've seen some Rusty Blackbirds and actually got to watch one sing the other day. The first time we saw them we found two and the next day there were six. We couldn't find much one day so we spent about a 1/2  hour listening to the Pine Grosbeak singing in Mrs. B's yard. I've never read anything about him being a singer but he sounds lovely.

We moved to Jim T.'s feeder and sat for about twenty minutes, I saw a little bit of black moving about but didn't say anything then E. asked what I was looking at and I told her Chickadee sssshhhh. We were very quiet and he came out for a while, that was E.'s first look and after three years of looking we saw him so much he turned into Chickadee-Schmickadee. Not really, he's a great little bird that Boreal Chickadee. He's much less tame than the Blackcaps that I grew up with, they would be visable a lot at the cottage.

So the season is off and running and I will probably be out in the field, we have decided to start our lists again because now we are more sure of what we are doing. I don't really trust some of the ID's we made, I think that I called a Fox Sparrow a Gray-cheeked Thrush and who knows who else I got wrong as I learned. There are some birds that we are keeping, birds from kidhood Blue Jay, Cardinal, etc. and some that may never show up here again American Avocett (I know what I saw and it was confirmed) Great Black-backed Gull ( I was with Bonnie when I saw it), Belted Kingfisher (he couldn't have been anyone else) and on and on. The way I figure it is it's my list so it's my rules.

The storm passed at about 3 am today and the sun came up and the wind died down and it turned into a beautiful day. The wind is now from the south and that makes all the difference. We're going out on Wednesday morning to see what has arrived on the scene, every day could bring something new especially with the wind in the right direction.

The call of a gull still surprises me so I guess that means I don't really believe that spring is here. It's funny, I grew up in Northern Ontario thinking that the American Robin was the first sure sign of spring but here in the north it is the sound of a gull. The sound stirs my heart and reminds me that soon (in reletive terms) there will be open water everywhere and I will have to keep my eyes and mind open because what I think I see may actually be something else. Like "prehistoric bird" that was a description a nonbirder gave me, it turned out to be a Double Crested Cormorant. And that makes me remember that even a person who doesn't actively bird can see something that is crazy obviously out of place.

We never know what is going to blow in on which wind. Last year a Sage Thrasher, we knew we saw a bird that didn't fit any of our expectations and without the experience needed we couldn't ID it, thankfully experienced birders usually like to show how good they are, so they told us what we needed to know. I never would have got to that ID because I would have had a hard time making myself believe that first that I was right and second that it could be so far from where it was supposed to be. Then when the American Avocet showed up it was proven to me again that I have to make the search a little wider when trying to ID. On the Avocet I didn't need confirmation but someone would have had to confirm the thrasher before I would have ticked it.

So we all knew it was coming but still we're shocked. This has been one of the earliest springs ever and we haven't had the usual warm day followed by snow the next. We have gotten ourselves quite used to the welcomed warmth, parkas put away for the season and thoughts of summer clothing was running in our heads. But alas today the wind picked up and quickly started blowing from the North and we are now in a full blown blizzard. The winds are blowing at about 90 kilometers, the temperature is -15 C and there is some snow thrown in so all is back to normal. Tomorrow will probably be +20 C and everything will melt and so goes a sub-arctic spring.

I mentioned a Polar Bear attack up north in a previous entry and have since learned that it happened in 1999 and someone is passing it off as this year. We did the research when we noticed no snow on the ground in a location north of here when there is still snow here. Ha caught ya.

Oh yeah, birds. I saw my first two gulls yesterday but couldn't ID them as I was at work with no bins I know for sure they weren't Ross's. Not that I wouldn't bird at work, I do it all the time just didn't have equipment yesterday so all I could see was pink legs. I really don't care if it was Herring or Ring-billed but just to hear a gull again means so many things, open water in the area, new birds will be coming all the time and the hope of spring is now a reality dispite the blizzard. The Canada Geese are here but I haven't heard anyone even mention Snows.

I am a security guard at the Town Centre Complex in Churchill and the building sits right on the edge of the bay. I have from the windows of the building seen a Snowy Owl, Dark-eyed Junco, Red-throated Loon, Polar Bears. Artcic Foxes, Arctic Hares, lots of Snow Buntings, many many Ravens (they keep me company in the winter), Aurora Borialis some of the best I've seen is in the middle of the night from the back deck (when I work night shift) and one wolf just the other day walked right through town. Most people thought that it was a really big dog. It came in on the CN railroad tracks, the guys down at the station came out of their shed to find it loping down the tracks. Cool. That's my third wolf in 8 years here, good for me.

Here we are finally! I swear it takes me twenty minutes to sign in but finally I wrote it down correctly so next time should be easier. It seems evertime I use it my password changes.

It is still spring in Churchill and now it seems to have started in earnest. The lead on the bay looks a couple of miles wide and the sun is out so the mirages are beautiful. Maybe someday I will get really ambitious and name the mountain ranges that I see, like the explorer I just read about. He named a mountain range that didn't exsist and it stayed named for years until it was discovered not to actually be there.

The bear attack that I spoke of yesterday didn't happen this year it was in 1990. I spoke to Kevin Burke and he cleared that up for me. I also spoke to David about violence etc. and he mentioned a killing here where a twin killed his twin brother, I've been searching the internet and I can't find any mention of it. I want to be able to add this story to the gun slinger story to the tourists.

The complex is full of people there is a cub car rally for the scouts and guides and earth day is happening in the overpass. It's too bad because the sun is shining and all of these kids should be outside getting the sun on their skin.

The bay (Hudson) is still frozen but there is water sitting on top of the ice. Yesterday and this morning it seemed like spring but this afternoon it feels like winter. Spring is coming too early as somewhere north of here the bears are off the ice and one has already attacked an inuit hunter. The hunter survived but the pictures are horrible the bear scalped the man.

I still haven't seen a gull but people tell me they are around, it makes sense because I can see the lead on the bay from the Complex windows so there is open water around.

After waiting for what seems like forever and reading about everyone else's spring birder it now seems as if spring has finally arrived in Churchill. On April 18, Eleanor and I went out and saw a nice group of birds on Goose Creek Road. A total of 18 Canada Geese but no Snow Geese at all yet. Surprisingly 2 pair of Mallards and a pair of Northern Pintails, at the bailey bridge we saw the Osprey hunting. At Mrs. B's feeder we had a few Common Redpolls and 5 Pine Grosbeak (2 male and 3 female)

We got to the Port and there were thousands of Snow Buntings everywhere you looked there was another flock of about 70 birds per. Not so many Redpolls as before, they must be in the bush nesting because there were mqny, mqny a week ago.