The swans have arrived..

So on my way home from work Friday I happened to notice movement out of the corner of my eye when I was on the road just around the corner from home and saw two big white birds flying around. I pulled over and dug out my binoculars (I keep them handy in my van as there is always some sort of interesting wildlife to stop and look at in my area) and realized that it was a pair of tundra swans. Then when I looked further I found a large flock of about 1,000 birds in the field.....Yeah...the  tundra swans have returned on their spring trip north. They will  stop over for a few weeks before they head up to the arctic to raise their young. Usually mid March they return to the Long Point area by the thousands and rest there until the weather really breaks then they head on their long trek north for the summer.Being that I am a 10 minute drive west of Long Point I am right in the path of many migrating birds and get to see wonderful spectacles all year particularly during spring and fall migration. Its quite the thing to see a field just white with these birds. Today I can hear them at home as they gather in the field to the east of me.

This is just the beginning. Over the next 3 - 4 weeks the fields around here will be full of these graceful birds.A sure sign of spring. This morning I also heard a red wing blackbird singing his spring call and a small song bird in my blue spruce singing with barely a whisper. Anyone at any distance would not have heard him.