The Eagle Has Landed!

Well, by “eagle” I mean the female Canada goose on the pond in Estabrook, and by “landed” I mean assumed her throne, and by “her throne” I mean her nest on the island in the pond.

Finally, and not a moment too soon! There were 3 other pairs of geese on the pond this morning. Here’s the male warding off the boldest of them. Their conflicts over territory include many pauses for grooming, it seems.

Here’s a more heated moment.

Here’s one of those other couples discussion their next move.

Meanwhile, the mallards try to stay out of the way.

Until, that is, Mrs. Gadwall blithely glides past, but she quickly dissuaded them of having any interest in her.

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After all that excitement, I headed down to the river, but I don’t have much to report other than that the buffleheads are still there. I wonder if they’re going to stick around. It’s a long way to their breading grounds in northwest Canada, but they have been spotted in northeast Minnesota from time to time. Maybe these two aim to expand that in Wisconsin. They wouldn’t be the first visitors who found Wisconsin had just what they were looking for, right?

Since the pond had so much going on, I swung by one more time on may way home, and as I sat on the bench for a moment, several critters stopped by to say hi.

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Finally, there’s a new splash of color in the park, emerging from low on the side of the bluff, and it appears to be a Siberian squill (Scilla sibirica).