I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw dawn breaking on a cloudless sky this morning. Woo Hoo! I wolfed down my breakfast and hustled out the door as soon as I could.
It was great to see the goslings out enjoying the weather for a change.
The wood ducks seemed to be enjoying it too, and they were venturing farther from the water than I recall seeing before. Here’s a pair high on the east lawn.
I counted an even dozen wood ducks altogether, and here’s eight of them across the paved path east of the pond. The guy in the back appears to be yucking it up, but isn’t that often the case?
I went back to the west lawn to get more gosling pictures and knelt down by the water with the sun at my back.
Then the little tykes slowly foraged right up to me. I barely breathed, let alone moved, and Mom and Dad just let the scene unfold. Even this squirrel seemed transfixed by the moment. I thought of trying to capture some video on my phone, but opted to just enjoy it.
I eventually tore myself away and hiked over to the river to see what else there was to see, and there was plenty. Here’s a blue-winged teal drake.
A gadwall hen, whom I don’t believe I’ve seen since last spring, though we did have that handsome drake on the river over winter.
And at the far north end, I thought I saw the prairie warbler again. I even told some poor guy, who drove all the way out from Madison to see it, that I had just seen it, but when I got home and looked at the pictures, it wasn’t a prairie warbler at all. Psych! Instead, it appears to be a black-throated green warbler, as best as I can tell, although the yellow chest below the black throat gives me pause, and we’ll see what the experts on ebird have to say about that soon enough.
On my way back south, I found another spotted sandpiper piping the muddy riverbank, but with nice sunlight this time.
Lastly, I spotted this deer quietly munching on some fresh sprouts. That’s gotta taste good after a winter of sticks and bark, eh?
Maybe we will get some spring weather to enjoy after all.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 