Wildlife is on the move; snow bunting, chipmunks!

Yes, more signs of spring. The chipmunks have woken from slumber, sharing the scattered seeds under the feeder.  

hungry!

love how they can get along

They are friendly, if not demanding, buddies!

However, another exciting sight for me: a Snow Bunting. I haven't seen one of these since we lived in North Gower. They migrate south for winter, a ground feeder, they eat weed and grass seeds, and bugs.

Come April, the boys go back north, prepare a (warm) nest for their girls, who migrate 4 -  6 weeks later. 

They are social, and even when creating their fur and feather-lined nests, they come together in flocks of 30 to 80 birds to forage.

They nest in the high Arctic, in deep cracks or rock cavities.

The male feeds the female, since she must keep the eggs warm in what can be -30 C. Arctic spring temperatures. What was unusual, is that this little guy was all alone. It was on the ground feeding, then flew up to the tree when I got out of the car to take his photo.

He was still there when we returned from our errands!
The linky is up for Saturday's Critters. Eileen spotted blue heron, while I'm still sighting winter birds!