I know. I know. That’s redundant, but I just mean to distinguish from all the other things moms get to, such as eating, sleeping, and drinking the Chardonnay.
Anyway, the exciting news is that the goose who lost her eggs is trying again, this time on a new nest that is shallow enough for us to see the eggs, and I can count three of them! Oh happy day! and fingers crossed, everybody.
Meanwhile, the goose on the northern tip of the island is still on her nest.
Finally, here are the two ganders making dang sure nobody crosses the line separating the north end of the island from the south end.
While I was checking on the geese, I spotted these two birds on a branch, and wondered what they were up to. From afar, I thought maybe there were waxwings, whom I often see in pairs.
Well, it turns out that was is a female cardinal, which you can probably tell from the picture above, and she’s got some nesting material in her beak.
And the other one is a white-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis), also with nesting material. In this species, the males and females do not have different plumage, so let’s just say she’s a female for the sake of today’s narrative. I’ve been hearing their call for the last week or so, which I now read is pronounced “Oh-sweet-canada,” and I was wondering when I’d finally spot one.
I still wonder what they were doing up their together, though. Maybe just exchanging knowing glances.
Anyway, down on the river, here’s a mallard hen looking for something up high in a tree, although they are said to nest on the ground, so I don’t know what she’s after. I didn’t even know they went up into trees at all until I saw her fly up there this morning.
Meanwhile, here’s a couple of drakes lazily drifting down the river together below her like a couple of bros having a swell time.
Right above them was this wood duck hen on a branch, perhaps scoping out nesting sites, which indeed are up in trees.
As these three amigos paddle up river along the far shore.
Lastly, here’s a robin wrestling a piece of straw into her nest just over the river trial.
PS. Here’s you splash of color, after all those browns, greens, and greys, a scraggly forsythia growing wild on the slope below the beer garden.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 