Spring has sprung way early here on the Echo Trail. Robins started singing Sunday morning, March 18. And today a winter wren is singing from the spruce bog behind the cabin. (I thought I heard it briefly yesterday, but couldn't confirm until today. The first winter wren I heard last year was April 20, so this is a full month earlier.

We had a Brown Creeper just outside the cabin this morning. Robins and Winter Wrens are still singing, despite a couple inches of (very wet) snow overnight.

Waterfowl have returned en masse. On our lake we've had Common Mergansers, Mallards, and (I believe) Common Goldeneyes.

Ringed-billed Gulls are here.

Some Bald Eagles stick around the area all winter, but there are more now. We had a pair circling together above the lake the other day.

No loons yet but I think they should arrive shortly . . .

Though not up here on the Echo Trail, it was fun to see Trumpeter Swans, as well as Ringed-necked Ducks and Buffleheads, on a marshy lake just south of Aurora as I was driving back from Daloot today.

I heard a Song Sparrow singing while paddling our lake today. Amazing on April 1. I also heard and saw Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles here for the first time today.

Yesterday evening, arriving back at the cabin after dark, we heard the year's first Barred Owl hooting. Which reminds me, a week or two ago when we had summer temperatures and slept with the windows open, I woke in the middle of the night to hear the mechanical call of a Saw-whet Owl. That call would be really annoying if you didn't know it came from such a cool little bird.

No loons yet ...

Two new firsts for 2012 today - Great Blue Herons and Turkey Vultures, both species flying overhead near Shagawa Lake.

I've heard reports of Loons on neighboring lakes but I have yet to hear or see one. Maybe at sunrise tomorrow as I walking the puppy and the most is rising off the lake.

Today we took the puppy out paddling and found a pair of Hooded Mergansers in the lake, in addition to other ducks like Common Mergs and Mallards.

The vigil for Loons continues.

Loons! I heard my first Gavia immer wailing over "our" lake at dusk this evening. What a sound.

An Eastern Pheobe also sat wagging its tail outside the cabin today.

And Flickers returned a few days ago. The other, resident woodpeckers (Pileated, Hairy, Downy) have been very conspicuous for a few weeks now - especially the Pileateds.

Today a merry band of Purple Finches spent some time feeding on aspen flowers right outside the cabin windows. They are really beautiful birds.

Buffleheads are an addition to this year's list of ducks seen on our lake. But the Mallards and, to a lesser extent, the Common Mergansers are the ones who seem to be sticking around most.

An adult pair of Bald Eagles was wheeling around together above the lake a couple days ago. Last year I was convinced that there must be an eagle's nest and also an osprey's nest in the vicinity, but I never found either. Got to look harder this year.

I've heard a bird song the last couple days that I can't identify. It has the same pattern but is quieter than the song of Carolina Chickadee (which isn't found anywhere near here), and is also fairly similar to the song of Common Yellowthroat (which I'm pretty sure has not arrived here yet, plus the song was not coming from a marshy location you would expect for a Yellowthroat). Any suggestions?

I’m not good at bird songs, but I’m glad you are doing these reports. Have you ever used Whatbird.com? They say the song of the Connecticut Warbler is similar to the Common Yellowthroat. Sometimes even a Robin song will sound similar to the other Thrushes to me. : )

Whatbird.com site

Thanks, Inspector, I'll take a look at that. I think it's too early for Connecticut Warblers (or any warblers) here, but I should learn their song anyway because otherwise they are impossible to locate skulking in the underbrush.

On Saturday I did an owl survey on the Echo Trail. It involved starting at the Portage River bridge, listening for owls for 5 minutes, then driving 1 mile back towards Ely and listening there for owls for 5 minutes, and so on for a total of 10 stops, ending close to the Angleworm EP parking lot. It was a very quiet, dark night, and I'd say it would have been kind of creepy if I had been out there alone (David was along). Anyway, we heard 6 different Northern Saw-whet Owls (a couple of them could be heard from two different locations a mile apart). Every Saw-whet we heard called continuously for the entire time we were outside the car. They are the energizer bunny of calling owls. We didn't hear any other owls, but I'm sure they are there - just not as constant callers as the Saw-whets. (For example, there's a couple Barred Owls here near the cabin, but they only call infrequently.)

Today, with a pile of fresh, very wet, very heavy snow on the ground, I encountered a juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, the first of the season. It was molting into its adult plumage and had a reddish forehead but no red on the throat, so I guess it was a female.

Today I heard the first White Throated Sparrow of the year. Now it is officially "not winter" in canoe country!

Yesterday an Osprey flew by the cabin carrying a fish, and being chased by a Crow (pretty sure it was a Crow and not a Raven). First Osprey of the year.

There has been a Kestrel perched on the wires along County 88 just east of Shagawa Lake every time I've driven by the last few days.

On the same wires, but a little further south right over the Shagawa River, the first Kingfisher of the year was perched last week.

Every dawn now is filled with the sound of birds, it is such a striking change from the silence of winter up here.

Last night I went outside the cabin with the puppy in the last fading light of the evening and heard an American Woodcock displaying from the bog out back. All of the sounds - the peents and the weird humming and zissing of the flight feathers - were very clear so I thought it was probably pretty close by. We had a Woodcock out there last spring and early summer, but it arrived earlier in April. So I was giving up hope this year, as the Woodcocks have been back up here for quite a while.

Chipping Sparrows are back, as are the early warblers. I've seen the Yellow-rumped, and I'm trying to figure out whether there are also Nashvilles singing out there. To me their songs seem similar (from the recordings). This morning I heard something that reminded me of a Chestnut-sided Warbler, but I didn't have my binoculars and I need to bone up on my warbler songs again to identify by ear.

Oh, and Hermit Thrushes have been around for maybe two weeks. Very early arrivals this year!