Nevermind the groundhogs…

Once again, the forecast clear skies didn’t arrive until this afternoon, and with all the snow and ice just about gone now, it was a bit dreary in Estabrook Park this morning. Not all the winter exotics have fled yet, however, and I counted eight common mergansers on the water around the northern island: two drakes and six hens. Luckily, I even have a picture left over from Thursday, when we did have a bit of morning sun, which shows a drake in some nice light.

As for today, I didn’t take a picture until I was on my way back south from the north end, and this red squirrel was being all bold on a branch with a big nut, the way grey squirrels commonly do.

Finally, at the pond, a pair of Canada geese seemed to be checking on the ice situation to see if it was time already to be staking out a nesting spot on the island. The fact that they hiked all the way across the ice from the northeast bay to the west lawn to see if I had anything for them to eat, once I took a seat on the bench, lends credence to my theory that they are the pair that have been regularly nesting there. Talk about a more-likely “sign of spring,” eh?

With the pond ice still pretty thick, almost no open water, and me empty-handed, they soon flew the coop, but I expect they’ll be back to stay soon enough. For perspective, back in 2022, the first time I saw geese on the ice was March 4, and she didn’t start sitting on her nest until March 28. For a fascinating discussion of the various strategies that “northern” geese employ to time their egg laying, check out this paper by Dennis G. Raveling on the topic.

In other news, this happens to be my 1000th post. I might have hoped that the critters would have been more photogenic for such an occasion, but they’ve all got their own agendas, of course, and I’m just happy that I get to see them when I do.