Despite the line of thunderstorms that rolled through before dawn, it turned out to be a pretty nice morning in Estabrook Park, with mild temps, light winds, and even some sunshine.

I was happy to see a female belted kingfisher at the pond. You can see just a hint of her chestnut flanks and belly band. I believe the one I’ve been seeing regularly this spring has been a male.

The great horned owl on the river was hiding but not too hard.

A pair of wood ducks were standing on a log over the recently reflooded “oxbow” side channel through the northern bottom. I couldn’t convince them to stand close together, so here’s the male, …

and here’s the female.

The big news of the morning, however, is the arrival of the first goslings I’ve seen this season in Estabrook. They were paddling across the river when I reached the north end.

I’ve heard a rumor that there might also be goslings on the pond, but I did not see them when I was there this morning. Maybe I’ll have to swing by this afternoon for a recheck.

For comparison, the earliest dates I’ve seen goslings in previous years have been
April 25, 2020;
April 26, 2021; and
April 28, 2022

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.

Aaah. Now that’s more like it! Not too hot, and not too cold, plus bright sun instead of wet snow. I’ll take it!

In any case, I was thrilled to reach the section of slow water on the river just in time again to catch the dawn patrol.

Meanwhile, up on the bluff, this is the puffiest eastern phoebe I believe I’ve ever seen.

The catbird by the pond was also looking quite puffy, and let’s hope that they both can soak up some of the sun’s warmth.

On my way back home for breakfast, I spotted this nuthatch prancing around showing off its own catch of the morning.

The day was so gorgeous, and the future forecast is not quite so nice, so I headed back out after breakfast and was soon treated to this curious display: three northern flickers perched on a single branch and putting on a show for each other.

I can see a male on the left, and a female in the middle, but I can’t tell if the one on the right is a male or female. Either way, Susan, I bet that despite their odd behavior none of them habitually smoke marijuana cigarettes.

Moving on, I soon spotted my first waterthrush of the season, and my guess is that this one is from Louisiana. Click the link for the side-by-side pictures to see if you agree.

Finally, this little red squirrel couldn’t figure out what to make of me, and it kept coming back for another look.

How’s that for a change in the weather? We broke records with temps in the 80s last week, but it was 32°F, with a wind chill of 22°F, and snowing enough to accumulate on the marsh marigolds this morning. Sheesh!

Nevertheless, the wood ducks, mallards, and one Canada goose gander went about their business on the pond, while the Canada goose dame kept her eggs warm on the island, …

the great horned owl on the river kept its back to the wind, …

and the male belted kingfisher looked as annoyed as ever.

The biggest change in behavior I noticed this morning was that the yellow-rumped warblers, who’ve been foraging in droves in the birch tree tops beside the pond, have all moved down to the edge of the river.

Just yesterday afternoon the turtles (a big red-eared slider and a little painted) were catching the last bit of sunshine on a log in the pond, …

the bunnies were out, …

and the yellow trout lilies were open.

T. S. Elliot didn’t write ‘April is the cruelest month’ for nothin’, right?

The April showers are back again this morning after taking one heck of a break, but what a glorious stretch of weather we’ve had, eh? While the sun was out yesterday, I managed to get a couple of pictures of the bevy of yellow-rumped warblers feasting on flying insects throughout the park.

A couple other warblers have been spotted, including a Cape May, a black-and-white, and a pine, but they have evaded me. Instead, here’s another look at that handsome yellow-rump by the pond.

Meanwhile, the painted turtle traffic was really backing up on the water.

And the bull frogs have finallyjoined the turtles at basking in the sun.

Back in the air, the blue jays have been vocal recently but shy as ever, and perhaps this one thought I couldn’t see it.

The last picture I took yesterday was of this hermit thrush doing its best impression of “you lookin’ at me?”

On to this morning, there was a lucky break in the rain, and on my way to the pond I happened upon the pair of deer we’ve seen on the soccer fields recently, but in the woods this time. Here’s mom sampling the shrubbery while keeping an eye on me.

At the pond, I found eagle-eyed spotter, Lisa, and after the two of us failed to spot any warblers, we headed to the river to see if the great horned owl was around. It wasn’t there this morning, I am sorry to say, but Lisa did spot these blue-winged teals instead. Sweet!

Lastly, on our walk across the fields to the river, I noticed this dragonfly in the grass, bejeweled with rain drops and the first one I’ve managed to photograph this season.

The end.

We’re just approaching the middle of April, and it feels like summer is here already.

The trout lilies are up and open!

The cat bird was busy feasting on the staghorn sumac seeds, …

but took a break to strike a handsome pose when it saw I was taking pictures.

The chipmunks are out and about.

This red-bellied woodpecker must have heard that the catbird had struck a pose.

Yet another butterfly is out and sipping birch tree sap.

This one is an eastern comma, as indicated by the little white “c” you can just see on the underside of its wing (below).

Finally, the female red-winged blackbirds have arrived to see what kind of territories the males have staked out.

The weather is becoming more summer-like with each passing day, and all this warmth has made the bloodroots nearly rocket out of the ground. In previous seasons, I can remember watching the leaves slowly emerge, seemingly for weeks, before they finally bloomed, but not this year. Boom! Here they are!

There’s also a brand-new turtle in the pond, this time a Blanding’s turtle (Emydoidea blandingii): notice the lack of yellow or red stripes on the side of its face. It is local to the Great Lakes region and is considered to be an endangered species. The local guess is that someone acquired it somehow, no longer wanted it and/or discovered it was illegal to possess, and so deposited it in the Estabrook Park pond along with the painted turtles, red-eared sliders, and giant snapping turtles. Here’s hoping that someone from the DNR can collect it and release it somewhere else where it can continue contributing to the gene pool.

I spotted another butterfly yesterday afternoon, and this one is an American lady (Vanessa virginiensis), which we’ve only seen one other time before.

On the inside/topside, the color scheme is quite different from the outside/bottom side and quite similar to that of the painted lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui), which we have seen a couple of times before in Estabrook and once in Delft.

Even the toads are up and out already, and here’s one beside the pond. It won’t be long before they all head down to the river for toad-a-palooza.

Now for some birds. Here finally is a decent picture of one of the white-throated sparrows that we’ve been hearing sing Oh Canadadada for the past week or so.

The great horned owl by the river was much further out of its hidey hole this morning and even flashed me those big, beautiful yellows for a moment.

The gray catbird is still hanging out beside the pond, and still hasn’t started singing, but will someday soon, I hope.

Finally, the yellow-bellied sapsuckers are still around, and this is a female, without the red patch on her neck and top of the head that the males sport. She was really lapping up the sap on this birch tree, which have begun running like faucets recently.

And thems the pictures fit to print for today.

Man-oh-man, a guy sure could get used to this weather.

The pair of deer were on the soccer fields again this morning, and I was able to sit on one of the soccer net frames to take some pictures as they passed by. The youngster seemed a little curious, but Mom was not interested and kept right on moving.

After reconnecting with the deer, I wondered if I’d ever see the beaver again. Well, I don’t need to wonder any more.

After investigating something on the far shore, it returned to the water and headed back up stream, so I ran up the trail to see if I could get ahead of it. Sure enough, it eventually came steaming up the near side, but was in no mood to smile for the camera.

I didn’t see anybody new at the pond, so I continued to the north end of the river where I was surprised to spot a pair of common merganser hens at this late date.

There was also a quartet of hooded merganser hens, just like the one I saw outside of Delft, but they were super skittish and wouldn’t let me get a single shot. Instead, the great horned owl was back in its spot on the island, and it didn’t seem to mind at all when I took this picture. 😉

Speaking of shy birds, for all their bright color and loud singing, the northern cardinals have been giving me a cold shoulder so far this spring, until this morning. Here’s a male.

And here’s a female, who was also singing their signature song.

Finally, the yellow-rumped warblers were thick this morning, and I even found one foraging on the ground.

Lastly, I spotted my first butterfly in Estabrook of the season this morning, this slightly-roughed-up red admiral.

The Bug Lady explains that “red admiral adults and pupae are [normally] found in the south during the winter, and migrating admirals repopulate the north each spring. According to Ebner, in The Butterflies of Wisconsin, [however,] a few individuals may overwinter as adults in Wisconsin, emerging in the balmy days of late April and May.”

The beautiful weather continues, and this morning I was thrilled to see a pair of deer out on the soccer fields to enjoy it with me.

One was a bit smaller than the other, so perhaps it was a yearling with its mom, and it was a bit restless, as youngster sometimes get. You can see it below in mid-cavort.

Eventually, though, it settled down and joined Mom at the breakfast buffet.

At the pond, I finally managed to capture an image of the other kinglet staying with us these days, the ruby-crowned, as it sang while foraging but kept its rub crown well hidden.

And there are still plenty of yellow-rumped warblers around.

A red-eared slider has finally emerged from the pond bottom to bask in the sun as we saw the painted turtles doing already.

But the raccoon was sleeping away the morning instead.

On the river, there are plenty of geese and ducks, but I was happy to find a pied-billed grebe who hasn’t moved on yet.

Finally, back up on the bluff, this yellow-bellied sapsucker was searching for birch sap to sip, …

and really showed off its yellow belly for a moment.

The nice weather is forecast to continue to perhaps we’ll start to see more warblers soon. Keep you fingers crossed.

Happy Easter, to those of you who celebrate. The glories of the snow (Scilla sect. Chionodoxa) are up in Estabrook Park to mark the occasion.

Yesterday afternoon, the sun was so warm that even the painted turtles came up from the bottom of the pond to bask in it.

If glories of the snow aren’t your thing, the alpine squill or two-leaf squill (Scilla bifolia) are also up around the pond.

This morning, a white-breasted nuthatch seemed to be proudly prancing and posing around a nesting cavity, perhaps to attract another nuthatch to share it with.

Finally, after musing to myself on my walk home that I haven’t seen a raptor in a while, I found this red-tailed hawk perched on the telephone wire crossing Wilson Dr right in front of our place. Ha!

It was sporting a bunch of jewelry, as you can see above, and seemed mesmerized by the crowd of house sparrows in the bushes below. So transfixed, in fact, that it let me take the closest closeup I’ve ever been able to take of a hawk.

Thanks!