Of Juncos and Robins

Juncos and Robins. Not the title of a new novel. Juncos are a subspecies of sparrow. The ones we have here in Manitoba are the Slate-colored Juncos. They have a light gray belly and dark-gray, almost black, hood and back. They usually come in small flocks to our place and hang around for a few weeks, picking seeds from the ground, and then they are gone until in the Fall, when they come back to pick the seeds from flowers we grow.
I have no idea where they hang out in the summer. Anyway, a few have been here now for a couple of days or so. Last year I saw the first ones around the same time.
A pair of sparrows has moved into our birdhouse. I’ve seen them making out on the perch in front of their home. A good sign. Last year we had only two pairs breeding in the house. We must have had around thirty sparrows coming to the feeder and spending their time among the shrubs and flowers in the summer, but they all disappeared over the winter. Perhaps they found a warmer, more protected place, like an old barn. I don’t know. For a while we had only one lonely guy coming to feed, and four Chickadees, also 3 pairs of Bluejays the odd time.
Today I saw my first Robin. Poor fellow was looking for worms, but the ground is still too hard for the worms to appear. We have quite a bit of water standing on our property and there is still some snow. It will probably melt away in the next few days.
I just checked my archives and found that I saw the first Robins March 29 in 2010. Either they are late this year or, which is most likely, I just haven’t seen them before today.
A couple of days ago I watched a pair of Bald Eagles courting each other above our house and I also saw a small flock of Pelicans and a large flock of Blackbirds. They’re all coming back to spend the summer.
It is cloudy today. It rained yesterday and last night. A good time to stay home and watch a movie. We don’t really need the rain, because of the flood.