Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, to those of you who celebrate. The glories of the snow (Scilla sect. Chionodoxa) are up in Estabrook Park to mark the occasion.

Yesterday afternoon, the sun was so warm that even the painted turtles came up from the bottom of the pond to bask in it.

If glories of the snow aren’t your thing, the alpine squill or two-leaf squill (Scilla bifolia) are also up around the pond.

This morning, a white-breasted nuthatch seemed to be proudly prancing and posing around a nesting cavity, perhaps to attract another nuthatch to share it with.

Finally, after musing to myself on my walk home that I haven’t seen a raptor in a while, I found this red-tailed hawk perched on the telephone wire crossing Wilson Dr right in front of our place. Ha!

It was sporting a bunch of jewelry, as you can see above, and seemed mesmerized by the crowd of house sparrows in the bushes below. So transfixed, in fact, that it let me take the closest closeup I’ve ever been able to take of a hawk.

Thanks!