Fortunately, I got to FWG before the heavy rains came and dampened the bird activity.

And birds were active! A pair of cardinals was engaged in courtship, or at least the male was trying to engage, but the female was having nothing to do with him! On the other hand, a pair of crows were contentedly sitting and doing a bit of bill-rubbing, so things were going along nicely with these two! House finches continue to pair up, robins continue to battle each other :-) , and red-winged blackbirds are busy staking out sites for the imminent arrival of the females.

In addition to the usual birds, I had a brief glimpse of a northern flicker (first I've seen at FWG this spring), and a golden-crowned kinglet, also a first for this spring (for me, anyway). I spent a fruitless 20 minutes hovering around the birch grove and the old field hoping to get a photo of the kinglet which never sat still for more than a nano-second. I did get one shot which is barely OK and is not attached! Most of my other kinglet shots were either of branches where he'd been a second earlier, or of a very blurry bird about to take flight. Oh, well... It appeared that there was only one, or at least, that is all I saw, but it was nice to hear that high-pitched call again.

Juncos and goldfinches were present in greater numbers than they have been for awhile, and the distinctive song of the juncos could be heard all over the FWG. In fact, there was a wonderful melange of bird song. Here is a list of the birds found this morning.

Cardinal 4
House finch 12
Black-capped chickadee 15
American goldfinch 17
Starling 60+
Song sparrow 6
American robin 8
Northern flicker 1
Dark-eyed junco 15
American crow 7
Sharp-shinned hawk 1
Downy Woodpecker 3
Hairy woodpecker 1
Pine siskin 2
Golden-crowned kinglet 1
Mallard 2
House sparrow 3
Red-winged blackbird 12