Spring time must be just a robin's breath away even though our 50 acres, except where it's been ploughed, is basically snow bound. As I was walking the pasture's fence line with the dog and two goats at my heels, sections of the 4' fence only 2' above the snow, I heard the sound of wings just overhead near the apple tree. Looking upwards, I was surprised to see a single red-breasted robin land on a branch near the top of the apple tree. I doubt very much that it would be building a nest very soon, especially since the temperatures still drop well below zero at night. I noticed other birds as well flitting through the branches and flying overhead but I wasn't able to tell what type of birds they were.
Birds, whether they are robins are not, really fascinate me and I've had some interesting experiences with them over the years. When I lived on my sail boat, it was wonderful to hear the raucous cries of seagulls and fluting calls of eagles. I remember one day, in particular, when I had my sail boat hauled out and it was propped up on the hard so I could work on it below the waterline; one evening, just as the sun was about to set, a small crow landed on the bowsprit very close to where my girlfriend (at the time) Sandra and I were standing. Usually crows keep their distance but this one just sat on the railing looking at us but what really amazed me was when Sandra held her hand out, the crow flew towards her and landed on it. I don't know if the crow had been raised by a person and then set free but it was without a doubt, the friendliest crow I ever saw. The other interesting experience I had with a bird was when I was walking down a sidewalk by a busy street and felt something hit me fairly hard on the back of my shoulder. When I looked to see what had hit me, there was nothing to be seen, so I continued walking along. But dang, I'd hardly taken three strides before I felt the back of my shoulder being whacked again, only this time, I saw it was a crow. To this day, I don't know why the crow hit me with its wing; I can only surmise that it was watching out for a young one it was teaching to fly and I must have been very close to the little fledgling. Another interesting experience I had was when I was just a teenager and I had some pigeons, mostly rollers and tumblers. I used to watch them fly round and round the house when I let them out of their pen and it was wonderful to watch them roll and tumble earthwards. It turned out to be fortunate for one of my pigeons because as I watched him try to land on a neighbour's chimney because he fell into a chimney he was attempting to land on. It took a bit of prying with a real long stick, after I climbed up onto the roof, to pry the pigeon out. Now that I live way out in the country, I've been thinking about getting some pigeons. I thought it was too cold here but I saw some living under a bridge that crosses over the bridge at Woodstock and they seemed to be surviving the winter quite well.
We have 50 hens and 2 roosters and they too are quite interesting, but perhaps in a different manner. Although they have their own little characters and have a pecking order they adhere to, they are quite entertaining to watch as they scratch about. Unfortunately, because of all the snow and below zero temperatures, they haven't been out of their coop for close to three months. However, being in the coop, they've become a little friendlier than I would like. I've had a couple land on my shoulder and hand but when one thought the top of my head was a roosting perch, I wasn't too fond of it. Chicken poop is very runny, messy and the smell is a lot to be desired. That being said, until you've had the wonderful experience of having a seagull drop its load on you, which I have, then you really know what being shit on is all about - cheers, eh!
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