The wood ducks are back on the pond. again Yay! I think I saw two couples in the early morning light, and at least one couple appears to be getting quite comfortable in what I hope will be their summer home. Here they are up on the lawn as I sit on the park bench just a dozen feet away.
Here they are back in the water making more wood ducks…
Finally, here they are back up on the lawn again. They were having a busy morning.
Meanwhile, the geese population was down to just 3 couples, and they were all trying to get comfortable on the little island with sites only about a dozen feet apart. We’ll see how that goes.
Northern-most 
Middle-most 
Southern-most
After all that excitement, I headed over to the river, and was rewarded for my effort. Here’s a muskrat having its breakfast. I first spotted it nibbling on something by the water, then watched it make two forays to grab more greens before returning each time to nibble on them at the water’s edge. Finally, I hope after it was full, it waded into the river and swam away.
A little bit further north, I found the buffleheads napping with a goldeneye as a mallard glided past.
Later I realized there were two different goldeneyes, a female, with a light tip on her beak, and an “immature” with an all dark brown beak and eyes.
There was even a male red-breasted merganser in the fray, which would bring our fowl count to six for the morning, but I didn’t manage to get a picture worth posting. Next time.
Lastly, here’s your splash of color.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 
It’s so nice to see the color in the photos you take, Andy. The rest of Mother Nature is still in its dank, dreary, depressing color vib . . . .
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