Observation #6

Yesterday, May 21 at 4:10pm, it was pouring rain. Not only was it raining but it was a chilly 38 degrees. Although I was not to enthused with the weather, the birds absolutely LOVED it! The rain brought out lots of worms and other creatures that intrigued birds of all kind because they were flying around everywhere. There were loads of different species of birds such as ones with red heads, yellow ones, robins, and much more. It seemed as though they also enjoyed the rain because they could stay cool and rinse off. I wish I could identify all of the birds, but that seems like an almost impossible task. Because of the rain I was using an umbrella so it muted the sound of the birds somewhat. It was absolutely infeasible for me to attempt to hold an umbrella over my head and and try to take notes all with one hand so I was forced to close the umbrella and get very wet. As I closed the umbrella, I was overwhelmed by all of the different songs sung by all of the diverse species of birds. I have never heard so many birds chirping at once. Whatever was brought out by the rain, the birds sure loved to eat it because they were all consuming whatever it was. The birds would latch on to tiny branches that did not seem capable of supporting there weight and they would snatch food into their beaks from the water. During the spring and summer months, I usually only see humming birds congregating around humming bird feeders and never in their natural habitat. Although, the rain seemed to bring them out from hiding as well. I saw this weird looking bird that just seemed to be hovering and flying backwards. It wasn't that windy, so the wind could not have been pushing it back and from previous knowledge, I knew that hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards. So, I was able to determine it was a hummingbird. It was the biggest hummingbird I have ever seen. I saw several more normal-sized hummingbirds and a slew of other types of birds and by then I was freezing cold and totally drenched so I decided to leave. If the weather improves by my next observation, I plan to go on an adventure down Fish Creek to see if I will be able to find evidence of beavers beginning their dams.