lördag 22 mars 2008

Whetchok and Jayfeathers

22:nd of March 2008
Cold, northerly winds and snowfall can´t keep us inside. Some sunshine between the showers makes me and 2 of my 3 sons, Max and Simon, tempted to head out for a walk around Svanå. 
   From a river bridge at Skultuna we see 5 Dippers together in the stream. An unusual concentration I find, but maybe it´s no big wonder. 
    The North American Indian tribe Lillooet used to call Dippers Whetchok - the slave of the northern wind. 
Maybe because cold autumn winds brought migrating Dippers down to Indian territories. Could this be a fall of migrants heading north? 
    We find another Dipper as we walk upstreams along the Black River at Svanå. Some Long-tailed Tits, a close encounter with a Goldcrest and a concentration of 17 Blackbirds in a garden with a feeder, are some of the small birding highlights on this really cold day.
   Yes, and Simon found a whole bunch of Jay feathers on a stone, probably plucked by a Hawk.

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