![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/YellowBelliedSapsuckeronNaturalCrooksDotCom.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe advance scouts for the massive May migration start winging in during early April: Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers like this one, Golden-crowned Kinglets followed by the lesser nobility of the rather grumpy Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and Eastern Phoebes pinging off the first flies and midges and settling for spiders on bad days.<\/p>\n
Fox Sparrows run ahead on recognizance in small numbers and Song Sparrows arrive in battalions.<\/p>\n Like all scouts, Fox Sparrows sport excellent camoflage, but<\/p>\n like most wearing camo, they seem ridiculously obvious in the wrong settting!<\/p>\n Two of the first butterflies I see each spring in southern Ontario are the Eastern Commas and the Mourning Cloaks. I find them most easily between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on warm, calm, sunny days.<\/p>\n We’ve had very few of those this April so like me this Eastern Comma took advantage of a break in the clouds to emerge looking for a mate, and maybe a sip of refreshing spring maple sap leaking from a nearby sapling.<\/p>\n After a winter of House Sparrows and Mourning Doves, this young Cooper’s Hawk seems ready for a change of taste: perhaps a tiny Kinglet or a pre-sweetened Sapsucker? Unfortunately for the Cooper’s, these early arriving birds have been chased, hunted, starved, exhausted, and renewed many times over the past few days and they were quick to still and silence when it was spotted. Perhaps tipped off by the evacuation of the huge flock of Juncos, the warblers and woodpeckers stayed safely unnoticed for the full hour that I circled the trail around this Cooper’s hawk. I suspect it went on to find a luckless Robin but that is why they have multiple nests of chicks each year.<\/p>\n While looking intently for wildflowers, I often find unexpected beauties. The so-called “grass” in this nearby woodlot is actually clumps of sedge. Specifically this blooming one is Oak Sedge. It blossoms in the early spring and then lurks there incognito all summer.<\/p>\n I was out almost every day for a week, hoping to see these flowers that finally unfurled the first time we had two warmer days in a row.<\/p>\n It’s not hard to guess why the first person called these Spring Beauties. With luck, soon the Trout Lilies and Trilliums will also be up.<\/p>\n Spring means looking down at my feet for the tiny blossoms of Oak Sedge and up at the tree tops for flitting warblers. So I spotted this raccoon sprawling in the crotch of a tree watching me. I wonder if I am a sign of spring to it, as I am never in this park in winter?<\/p>\n I wouldn’t be surprised if this Raccoon is an expectant mother.<\/p>\n It’s another windy, grey day today and after a cold northern overnight wind, I doubt many new migrants have arrived. However I’m no longer gloomy. Spring is coming, whether the Grinch wants it to or not, and with it will come bajillions of beautiful things to admire from tiny Whitlowgrasses to towering Blue Herons. I hope to share some of them here.<\/p>\n This newly arrived Pine Warbler defies the grey skies !<\/p>\n Related Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n The very first migrant birds, emerging woodland blossoms, and awakening butterflies are welcome sights to my winter-blued eyes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[585,314,299,474,311,658,703,359],"class_list":["post-9542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rambles","tag-chipping-sparrow","tag-coopers-hawk","tag-eastern-comma","tag-eastern-phoebe","tag-fox-sparrow","tag-pine-warbler","tag-raccoon","tag-yellow-rumped-warbler"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9542"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9558,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9542\/revisions\/9558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nButterflies Uncurl from Their Hidden Homes and Search for Fellowship<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nOther Winter-Worn Residents Search the Woodlot for New Arrivals<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nThe First Few Wildflowers are Exceptionally Welcome<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nA Placid Raccoon Sunbathes Before the Cubs Arrive<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nStill Grey But No Longer Gloomy<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n