WHAT A SPRING By Mark McKellar Male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were common sights this spring at feeders. photo courtesy of Rick Jordahl One Monday morning this spring it started. John and I had to laugh as we heard one another repeatedly say “Those are called Rose-breasted Grosbeaks” each time we answered the phone. I wish I had kept a count of how many folks called in but I know it was dozens. It didn’t stop with grosbeaks, record numbers of calls came in about orioles, indigo buntings, catbirds and others. What caused this huge influx of birds to feeders? In a word, stress. What we are now calling the Easter Freeze of 07, dramatically affected our natural world. We could easily see the affect the freeze had on our flowers, shrubs and trees but how about the birds. Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are known to visit feeders for short periods of time during the spring, but they heavily rely on tree buds and insects for food during migration. Given the damage that 18 Degrees does to freshly emerging tree buds, sunflower and safflower were the only sources of dependable food available to them. Customers were reporting 5, 10, 15, even 18 grosbeaks at one time at their feeder stations. I doubt there were any birds that were not affected by “the freeze,” but those who had arrived early in the spring seemed to be hit the hardest. We had reports of dead Purple Martins, only a fraction of the number of bluebirds nesting in the first cycle as did last year, and hummingbird numbers were much lower. Baltimore Orioles were another bird in tremendous numbers at feeders this year. With the lack of fruit being produced by trees and shrubs, orioles found themselves sharing the grape jelly with House Finches, woodpeckers, catbirds and even cardinals. The big question has to be, what will the long term affects of the Easter Freeze be? The absolute saving grace for us had to be the wet spring. Had the freeze been followed by additional stress like a long dry period, I’m afraid things could have been much worse for our plants and insects. There is no doubt that certain plants (how many dandelions have you seen this year?) will not produce seeds or fruit this year and this could affect our bird’s fall feeding patterns. Generally, bird feeders are quite slow during September and October because of the abundance of natural food. This year could be quite different.

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