Cardinal singing

[Frederick W. Schueler]

Everyone,

After seeing only 4 Starlings on Saturday for the Kemptville Christmas
Bird Count (Raven, Crow, & Chickadees heard), this morning, as
everything was melting in the 7°C warmth, I heard a Cardinal singing its
pretty-pretty-pretty song. I've heard singing on 9 January 2007 & 2019,
but this is the first time in December - the bird must have been shocked
into song by the sudden onset of the warmth.

We also have a few Robins still around.

fred.
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---------Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad ------------
Fragile Inheritance Natural History - https://fragileinheritance.ca/
6 St-Lawrence Street Bishops Mills, RR#2 Oxford Station, Ontario K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44.87156° N 75.70095° W
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[Frederick W. Schueler]

On 30-Dec-24 10:14 p.m., Frederick W. Schueler wrote:

> this morning, as
> everything was melting in the 7°C warmth, I heard a Cardinal singing its
> pretty-pretty-pretty song. I've heard singing on 9 January 2007 & 2019,
> but this is the first time in December - the bird must have been shocked
> into song by the sudden onset of the warmth.

* this noon I stepped outside and for the first time this winter heard a
Chickadee giving a long series of the feebee call which we associate
with passing the winter solstice.

When I was doing the streets there was a trackway with a tail drag along
the Mill Street sidewalk in the half centimetre of new snow, which had
to be a Muskrat. I followed this for about 300 m across the village (229
m SE in a straight line), on a route that would have taken it 775 m to
get between the branches of the creek in the direction it was going.
I've only had 3 previous January records of on-road Muskrats. These
winter wanderings of Muskrats are held to be due to lack of food in the
previous habitat, but it's hard to say what this one vagrant indicates,
though we've also had more Muskrats than usual at Mudpuppy Nights in
Oxford Mills.