The gray skies of April

Here’s that April weather we all know, and expect, if not love. Not 83°F and sunny and not 32° and snowing but just seasonably cold with grey skies and a chance of rain. I’m lucky it was only a chance of rain.

My morning in Estabrook got off to a nice start when this deer peeked over the edge of the bluff to see who was clomping down the river trail. “It’s just me, sweetie.”

At the pond, our favorite catbird was gobbling up the last of the staghorn sumac seeds and beginning to make its namesake call.

And that’s when the show ran aground. Nobody else wanted their picture taken today, so I had to pick on the plants that can’t hide. Here’s some Dutchman’s britches or Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) along the river trail at the far north end.

The Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) in the same vicinity are just beginning to open.

And just on the other side of that path are the diminutive false rue-anemone (Enemion biternatum).

Since I have the space today, here are a couple of pictures that didn’t make the cut yesterday, when the sun was shining, and the sky was blue. First is a female downy woodpecker with her dainty little bill.

And second is a female hairy woodpecker with a big, ol’ pickax for a bill.

Finally, because I have a few, here’s another look at that very inquisitive red squirrel.