I was recently surprised to see to see a robin very nonchalantly hopping and flying about.
Robins overwinter here but except for very occasional December or January views of them when they stick to the dense thickets and shrubs close to the ground and near their shared winter accommodations, a sight of them is somewhat rare. This one was very active and looking rather springy, too.
I saw a pair of red-shafted northern flickers, too. They overwinter as well but also seemed to be very active; one of them was drumming and showing some mating behaviours. So, seeing these birds convinced me that we might soon be seeing spring.
But then I surprised a small flock of coots that were huddled next to the breakwater boulders along the lakeshore. They prefer the smaller ponds up in the mountains, but if those are frozen over, they are forced to move to the much bigger, open lakes. So, like the groundhogs, they might be signalling another six weeks of winter!
Hummm. A good sign and a poor sign.
Oh well, whatever we get, I’m not going to complain since our winter has been very mild.
Happy Tuesday.
In the Net! - Pictures and Stories of Life 
Wow amazing birds. I have never heard of coots but lovely to see so many of them together.
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They get into flocks much larger than this; sometimes I’ve seen about 200 at a time. They have the oddest looking feet that allow them to walk on reeds or lily pads. You have them in Australia, too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coot
Cheers.
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Oh that’s really interesting. Thanks for sharing Lynette!!!
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I think the coots are probably a lot more useful for predicting the coming weather than the groundhogs. But that’s because I don’t think groundhogs has much to say about the weather or winter. Anyway, those are great bird photos.
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Thank you very much. I agree, Thomas. The whole groundhog thing, while a cute story, doesn’t mean anything, of course. Here, the marmots (a type of groundhog) go into hibernation as early as September and emerge as early as January, even if conditions aren’t great – they have to start looking for food! The coots are much better indicators. They overwinter here and spend their summers in the north, sometimes as far north as the Arctic. When they leave, spring is on the way!
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I love the flock of coots! Their geometry…
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I agree! They always swim together like that. It’s beautiful.
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I’ll be sixty five in July. Is that old enough to be an old coot or will I just be an old geezer forever?
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Yes, 65 will probably earn you some cooterdom. 😉 But it’s more a state of mind, really. On the other hand, I’ve seen 20-year-old geezers before. 😉 Cheers.
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So many coots. Hope they are not predicting a longer winter as I feel it has been long enough already. We are headed back above 0 here for the next week or so. Yay, slush. Happy Tuesday Lynette. Allan
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When they start heading north then I know that spring is definitely on the way, but seeing them come out of the mountains because the smaller lakes up there are frozen might be a sign that we’re going to get some more winter. Everyone to the east of us certainly deserves an early spring, that’s for sure! Cheers.
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I’ve never seen that many Coots in one place before, Lynette! They make that funny clicking sound and have the weirdest looking feet.
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Good luck to birds everywhere. They don’t have it easy.
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Wonderful bird photos, Lynette! Fingers crossed for an early spring.
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I saw snow buntings and an owl plus magpies so no change here.
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I’d say things are moving in the right direction in your area! Lovely pre-Spring sights 😊
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