Spring Awakenings: Loons!

• Loons are the iconic bird of Canada – enshrined on our dollar coin and found across most of the country. Some may have already arrived in your area to nest but migrants are still staging on open water, or over-flying us as they head further north.  Whether you just have them for a short time in the spring and fall, or are blessed with them throughout the warmer weather, their eerie voices remain a quintessential ‘call of the wild.'
• Loons are divers more so even than flyers, having solid bones and feet placed far to the rear that help it dive to 80 m and stay under for almost a minute.  Of course, those bones also contribute to the long, running takeoffs (up to several hundred metres on a calm day) required to get airborne.  Once on the wing, however, they can reach speeds of 120 kph.
• Although Common Loons are protected by law, they are showing reduced breeding success and have abandoned some of their breeding range in more populated areas, likely due to shoreline development and nest disturbance.  Low-lying, nests are particularly susceptible to boat wakes.  Loons are also dying from high concentrations of mercury and lead in their tissues, the latter from ingestion of lead fishing sinkers.  If you boat or fish, give nesting areas a wide berth, and consider using non-lead alternatives for sinkers and jigs.
• American Toads complete the amphibian chorus, their long trills (embedded in previous link) coming from possibly any patch of standing water or backyard pond, day or night.
• There is now a veritable avalanche of birds arriving from Central and South America, including a number of beautiful warblers that are mostly passing through:  Yellow, Palm, Nashville, Blackburnian, Cape May and Cerulean, among others. 
• Migrating northward at the rate of about 40 km/day, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds will be arriving soon if not here already, so keep your eyes peeled!
• Midland Painted Turtles will again be out basking on logs and rocks in southern Ontario and Quebec wetlands, at times raising their body temperature 8-10 degrees above the surrounding air. 
• Spring butterflies may be out early this month, again dependent on temperatures.  They need an extended period of warm weather for their hibernating chrysalids to change into adults.  Look for Olympia Marble , Chryxus Arctic, Cabbage White and Hoary Elfin. 
• White-tailed Deer does are banishing their male offspring from the immediate area prior to giving birth, in order to minimize interbreeding.  So watch the roads for roaming deer.
• Trees that normally leaf out here at this time include Pin and Choke Cherry, Manitobaand Norway Maple, Trembling Aspen, Serviceberry (flowers before leaves ) and the willows.  Leaf out can proceed very fast, so pay attention!  Sketching leaves from one day to the next can show marked changes as they unfurl.  Some leaves lie fully-formed within the buds and just have to be ‘inflated’. 
• May 5 is the mid-point of spring and in Southern regions the last frost generally occurs by mid-month or a bit later.  It may be sooner or later where you are – find out, and compare that to the actual last day of frost this year.