A threefer, but in a good way…

As I mentioned might be possible yesterday, I did manage to sneak into Estabrook before we had to head downtown for a graduation ceremony, and I even took some pictures.

First up is this northern waterthrush who was finally ready to pose for my camera. Sure, the light was poor, so whatever you do, don’t zoom in on the image, but you gotta admit, that sure was a nice pose.

Although we are squarely in their year-round range, cedar waxwings make themselves pretty scarce over the winter, and I haven’t managed to get a picture of one since early last December, but they’re back now, Baby, and here’s one munching on some fruit tree blossoms.

In addition to the waterthrush, there were also plenty of colorful warblers, too, and here’s a gorgeous Blackburnian letting us have a little better look than last week.

After the graduation ceremony, we all went out to Anne’s mom’s place in Waterford to celebrate, and while I was waiting for folks to arrive, I took a look around. As usual, there were some sandhill cranes gleaning whatever seeds they could from the fields, but this time, they put on a little airshow, too.

The horned larks are back, as well, and here’s one blending into the background, despite its distinct yellow chin and short black bib.

When we got home yesterday afternoon, and I hung up my windbreaker, I saw my poofy coat, which I haven’t had to wear in a while, and I thought to myself how I never know at the time when I’m wearing it for its last outing of the season. Then I checked the weather forecast for this morning. Yikes! Temps in the low 40s, thick cloud cover, and a stiff wind that pushed the windchill temps down into the low 30s! What the heck month is this, anyway?

Happily, the weather didn’t stop people from joining our weekly wildlife walk, though John Kasper did pull on a sweatshirt, and we had our biggest crowd yet, with 15 folks, if you count me. Despite the cold, we counted 61 bird species, including 14 warblers, across three checklists; the 7 a.m. crew, the 8 a.m. crew, and the combined crew; which is also a new record for us. Woo Hoo!

Here’s a darling female bay-breasted warbler.

A female indigo bunting.

And here’s a bunch of goslings, in which one does not look like the others. Now, it certainly could be a runt, which apparently do occur sometimes, but I’d put my money on this just being a blended family, which we’ve already seen several times before in Estabrook, and in which some goslings simply hatched later than others. If you have a different opinion, I’m sure I can count on you to let me know.

Finally, your blossoms of the day are these little darlings, which appear to be (Cardamine bulbosa), commonly called bulbous bittercress, spring cress, or bulbous cress.