I couldn’t ask for a nicer morning in Estabrook Park, and I made it out the front door at 7:00 am CDT to celebrate. That’s my earliest start of the year, if you ignore the recent time change.
As I hiked down to the river, I found our winter wren hasn’t flown north yet.
At the pond, I finally got my first wood duck hen picture of the season. I’ve already seen one once or twice before this spring, but she’s always been awfully shy and successfully eluded my camera. She wasn’t much different today, but I finally got lucky. There was a drake with her, too, but we’ve already seen plenty of pictures of him and in much better light.
At the north end, this chipmunk was surprisingly bold and seemed quite unperturbed by me.
At the Port Washington Road bridge over the river at the far, far north end, I found a red-tailed hawk perched on a lamppost and surveying the scene on the river below.
As I hiked back up to the pond for one more look, I found this red squirrel who seemed torn between curiosity and shyness.
Finally, the first crocus to bloom in the park, that I know of, is by the pond and already attracting insects.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 