Nature found a way…

Long-time readers may recall that back in mid-April, the wettest April on record for Milwaukee, we had so much rain over one night that the island in the pond was under water by morning, the goose was off her nest, and her eggs were floating. I saw both geese hanging around for a while, and then there was just one. When they are together, I can see that the gander is slightly smaller, but when they are alone, I can’t tell which is which. Thus, I couldn’t tell who had taken off and who had stuck around.

Well, the mystery was solved this morning when I came across this bucolic scene beside the pond. It appears that the goose had merely gone back to nesting somewhere nearby, and the gander remained at his post to keep watch. Talk about determination! I have seen her go back to her nest to lay a second clutch, once before, but that happened in relatively short order after a predator had gotten to the eggs. This time she had to wait for the island to dry out, if that’s even where she tried again.

Anyway, congratulations to the proud couple, and I hope things go smoothly from here on out.

Here’s one of the little rascals, soaking in the big beautiful world it has just inherited, a bit later in the morning after the sun had cleared the trees.

Meanwhile, just on the other side of the island, this doe played coy for a moment before is ambled into the woods.

I didn’t see any green herons at the pond today, but here’s one hunting on the river just off the upstream tip if the upstream island.

I couldn’t tell exactly what was going on here, but perhaps red-bellied woodpeckers were still sorting out nesting arrangements, because this male stayed in the cavity and called, while a female hung on the outside a bit around farther up the trunk. Perhaps she’s just not yet ready to commit.

Perhaps this Halloween pennant dragonfly heard me gushing about our first calico pennant yesterday, because here it is, the very next day, as if I had summoned it with a spell.