Lulled into thinking that it would be more spring-like, today I toured around the eastern side of the county, north to Sandy Lake and south to Hastings, and then along Peterborough Rd 2 to Hwy 28. It was cool and windy and most shrub thicket swamps and marshes were still completely to partially ice-covered. I saw Killdeer and Eastern Bluebird in several places, 4 Great Blue Herons standing on nests in a heronry on the east side of Peterborough Rd 46 southwest of Methuen Lake, and a Red-shouldered Hawk north of Round Lake. I stopped at several marshes and swamps that were ice-free, but heard no frogs except for a single Spring Peeper calling slowly and intermittently from a shallow grassy pond on the Sandy Lake Rd., and saw no Midland Painted Turtles. I saw a single Mourning Cloak on the Sandy Lake Rd. I stopped at Mathers Corners to check the waterfowl in the flooded corn field. There were 17 American Black Ducks, 28 Mallards, 2 Canada Geese and about 40 Ring-billed Gulls. Rice Lake is still ice-covered, but much of the ice is dark and so the lake may start opening up in the next few days. I checked about a dozen Osprey nests, but saw no Ospreys.
Location: various
Observer: Don Sutherland
