A whole lot of Spring going on…

It was a very nice morning in the park, with calendar appropriate temperatures for a change. At the pond, the ice is almost all gone, the pair of mallards were napping in the morning sun, and the pair of Canada geese were feeding.

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The river is still high, but the parts of the trail that are not actually submerged are really drying out, so I took a stroll, and you wouldn’t believe who I saw. That’s right, one of our beaver was trying to get over the falls, and it appears to have thought better of the idea after two attempts. The river really is moving these days, and it popped out of the water not 5 feet in front of me, twice, so I had a chance to pick up my jaw and get out my camera. I guess it really is true that they don’t have the greatest eyesight.

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After all that excitement, I opted to see what else the trail had to offer, and just a bit south of there, I spotted this little nuthatch uncharacteristically foraging on the ground.

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Soon after that, I watched in awe as the first king fisher I’ve seen this season sped by about a foot off the water, and then I spotted what I thought might be our first grebe of the season by the mudflats, now mostly submerged. As I made my way around the east side, in hopes of a better view, I spooked the first great blue heron I’ve seen this season out of a tree. Holy Smokes! Birds are a-poppin’! Well, at least I got a picture of one of them.

Sure enough, that is our first little pied-billed grebe of the season. Sweet! Maybe we’ll see it fishing up on the pond soon.

Plus, one of our redheads was there too, dabbling with a pair of mallards. I thought they might have bugged out by now. Depending on the map you consult, we are either in their “migration” or “non-breeding” zone, although we are near a “year-round” zone in the latter map. Maybe this guy is pushing the envelope.

Finally, I forgot to mention yesterday that I found my second park beer. Woo hoo!

Long-time readers may recall the first one last August, which was quite tasty. Well, the new one is chillin’ in the fridge now, and I look forward to cracking it open later today. At least after lunch.

Finally, the daffodils are starting to come up in the woods throughout the park, so please be careful where you step if you go off-trail.