EARLY ARRIVAL OF MIGRATORY REDWINGS WITH 27% OF WINTER LEFT!

 February 24, 2025

We have had a cold winter season which I remind you stretches from December 22 to March 21.  Βut today dawned clear and sunny, with temperatures of only 30⁰ F.  Today the sun has risen high enough to provide us with 11 hrs and 4 m 55sec of daylight. A far cry from our winter in early January days when days were less than 10 hours long.  But besides that, the sun climbs higher at noon above the horizon now too. So its rays are more intense than the long, low sunlight rays of early winter.  All this movement has an impact on us and the living things all around us 

No our Earth has not circled around to official Spring just yet. We still have 4 days of February left, then 21 days to March’s Spring Equinox on the 21^st.  Τhere are twenty-five (25) days left to official Spring on March 21.  But what is the “percent time” to Spring? 

The total days of winter days are measured from December 22 (winter solstice) to March 21 (spring equinox).  There are: (1/4 of 3651/4 days = 91.3) or 91 days of “winter” each year.  So far we have completed (endured?) 66 days of our winter season of cold (minimum was 17⁰ F)  and have about 25 days left. In terms of percent—we have competed about 72% of winter and have only 27% of winter season left.  

So with almost a third of winter with us it was unexpected to see two Red-Winged Blackbirds *(Agelaius phoeniceus) on my morning walk this AM. I heard the kankaree kankaree call of another Redwing some distance away from the walking path. 

The Redwing is a flocking migratory bird, moving south to Mexico and southern USA in winter and north to almost all of North America in spring.  Some Redwing populations do not migrate. However in this area of New York, our birds are not winter residents…Perhaps since they prefer marsh and open grassy fields to feed… the snow cover in this area precludes them as residents.  In fact I have not observed a single specimen all winter. 

The observations of this species were the first this season and the earliest in winter that I can recall. But these wild birds seem to know when to begin to stake out their breeding areas. So with nearly a third of winter left they have braved the cold and arrived at breeding grounds in north-central Suffolk County. 

It has been a pleasant and heart warming to hear their familiar call again. 

Ps: The following day I observed a moth flying around the porch light at night (@40F).  On the morning of the 26th I observed a large black spider ( ?Wolf Spider) moving around-a little gingerly in the cold among the brown, dry plant stems in the herb garden close to the back door. Then too that morning I heard the call of a Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). So critters are responding to the longer days and warmer weather 

* (Latin = red gregarious bird)