Things are finally starting to happen at the pond. The ice is still thick and probably covers 99% of the water, but the birds are starting to arrive anyway. First up is this red-winged blackbird, who was enthusiastically announcing his presence to everyone within earshot on this glorious March morning. Woo hoo!
While I was trying to get the red-winged blackbird to cooperate and sit still for a second, I spotted another black bird nearby, and this one turned out to be a common grackle. Sweet!
Lastly, but by no means leastly, is our first arachnid of 2021, this handsomely striped spider, who I’m gonna say is one of the “more than 40 species of wolf spiders are found in Wisconsin.” Hip, hip, hurray!
Meanwhile the water fowl remain as dense as ever on the river. Today I saw common and red-breasted mergansers, goldeneyes, mallards, the newly-arrived Canada geese, and even our newest arrival, the redhead. The water is finally open over the sandbar that forms downstream from the southern island, and the ducks were having a field day there.
Although the ice is mostly gone from the river, there are still some big patches to be found.
Finally, after the exam at UWM yesterday, I tried to capture an image of our peregrine falcon pair in residence, but this is all I got so far. I saw one fly in, there was a lot of chatter, and then one flew off. So there are definitely two, and this “picture” is of the one that stayed behind.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 
Yea spring! Love those redheads – their back feathers are beautiful
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Same for the scaup down by Discovery World.
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