Mrs. Cardinal makes an appearance

A wonderful day at the beach today. So many of our feathered friends have returned, it’s hard to catalogue them all. There are the returning migrants that will stay here for the summer and into the fall, and others, like the white-throated sparrow, that are only here for a few days — sadly — as they feed and rest before making their way to further points north.

And then there are the birds that stay here all winter, like Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal. We have a couple of pairs of cardinals that stay year round at Ashbridge’s Bay. No matter the season, they are very often heard belting out their songs — and often enough seen, as well. But the fact remains that  owing to their penchant for declaiming from the very tops of our tallest trees, they are darn hard to get a good photograph of.  It seems that almost every photograph of male or female cardinals in my collection is taken from WAY below. Not the view enthusiasts are generally looking for.

But perhaps because it is spring, and there is lots to eat now on the ground, the Mr. and Mrs. who live at the end of the Ashbridge’s peninsula are spending more time closer to the ground. Today I lurked about in a dense thicket behind some sea buckthorn and quietly waited for this pair to emerge from the thatch. After some time, my patience was rewarded with a nearly unobstructed view of the Mrs. going about her business — foraging. I know that the male of the northern cardinal species Cardinalis cardinalis is considered the more handsome one of the pair. But I think the female’s colouration is quite spectacular, though more subtle.

As I mentioned earlier, we are now getting the transient migrants passing through Ashbridge’s, like the white-throated sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis.While we only get to enjoy the presence of these beautiful sparrows for a few days each spring, people who are lucky enough to have cottages in Ontario’s near north have the pleasure of hearing the lovely song of the white-throats all summer.

White-throated sparrows are the indomitable little birds that sing two songs, depending if you are American or Canadian. Americans say these little songsters sing “Old-Sam-Peabody-Peabody.” And Canadians say they sing “Oh-sweet-Canada-Canada.” It’s the same song, of course, and it last about four seconds. It’s beautiful and haunting in the northern woods no matter what human words we try to put to it.

The funny thing is that normally people hear white-throats long before they hove into view, probably because their song is so darn distinctive. But today at the beach I didn’t hear a single white-throat song, and in fact had no idea that they had returned until I caught a glimpse of this little fellow hopping around foraging for food in the underbrush. I was actually staking out Mrs. C. (see above), keeping very still and trying to move extremely cautiously in attempt to get distracting twigs out of the picture I was trying to make of the cardinals. (Mr. C. was around, too, but wasn’t nearly as co-operative about having his picture taken.)

I’m glad I didn’t miss the white-throat today, though. They are surely a treat for winter-weary ears. For me, these beautifully adorned sparrows embody the north. A few Canada-Canadas and I am in a cedarstrip canoe, paddling past pine-clad shores. (And much, much y ounger!) Who can be sad when they hear that song penetrating through the thickest of thickets? To hear the song of a white-throat, click here. The link will take you to a page from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that features audio and video of the species Zonotrichia albicollis, as well as lots of other info.

© BCP 2010