At long last, May has arrived, and it was a picture-perfect morning in Estabrook Park. Better yet, the birds seemed to be as happy about it as I was.

As I was walking north along the river towards the pond, I spotted this darling female northern flicker peeking out of her nesting cavity, and …

I didn’t have to wait long before she …

came the rest of the way out. “Thanks, sweetie!”

At the pond, this gosling was already taking a break from breakfast and didn’t need mom’s wing to keep warm today. Yay!

Soon a flock of about a dozen cedar waxwings arrived looking for berries in the bushes, and this one couldn’t have done a better job of adding extra black stripes to its face if it had tried.

On my way toward the river, I watched this male downy woodpecker forage for a bit, as I tried to get a good picture, and then it just parked itself on the bottom side of this branch and stayed there. Only when I got home did I notice that his eyes were closed, and now I wonder if that’s how they nap?

Farther along, at the north edge of the parking lot, I saw our first chipping sparrow (Spizella passerina) of the season. So many sparrows, eh?

When I finally reached the river, I soon spotted a little bird foraging right at the water’s edge, and I hoped it would be a waterthrush. Once I got my camera focused, I saw that it was another savannah sparrow, only my second ever.

As I was trying to get a good picture of the savannah sparrow, this spotted sandpiper just flew in and started posing right in front of me. This is only the second time I’ve seen one this year.

Amazingly enough, when the sandpiper finally realized I was standing right there and took off again, I did find the waterthrush that I thought I had seen in the first place. What an amazing confluence of birds. I barely had to take a step to get pictures of all three of them.

At the north end, I was happy to see the cold and lonely tree swallow from yesterday joined by three others and busily hunting for bugs. Hurrah!

Then, on my way back south, I finally got my first great blue heron picture of the season. I’ve seen them a few times already, but they’ve always been on the wing, and I’ve been too slow to capture them.

Lastly, on my second swing by the pond, I just happened to notice these two mallards doing their best to make more. “Thanks you two. I look forward to seeing the fruits of your labor in 3 to 4 weeks.”

It’s the 32nd day of April, at least according to the weather, and I can only hope that once April makes up for that warm spell we enjoyed about 3 weeks ago, it will let May assume office, and we can commence with spring. 

Anyway, we had a nice surprise visitor in Estabrook this morning. It perched above the far shore of the river at the north end, about 500 feet away from where I stood, so you might not be able to make it out, but I’ll give you a hint. That’s an adult American bald eagle.

And here it goes…

Meanwhile, over the near shore, and nearly over my head, this little tree swallow was probably waiting for the day to warm up enough for the bugs to start flying so it can go catch some breakfast.

Just below the swallow, one of the last remaining white-throated sparrows was hopping around in the brush looking for a breakfast of its own. A week or two ago, they seemed to be everywhere, but most have flown on towards Canada da da da, and this morning I only counted two others besides this one. 

Speaking of singing sparrows, the song sparrows are now announcing their presence regularly throughout the park.

Finally, I spotted my third warbler (after the yellow-rumped and the waterthrush) of the season, this stand-offish little palm warbler. Yay! The spring migration is still on.

The weather today is a nice summary of the weather we’ve had all month. Except for that glorious second week from the 10th through the 14th, it has been consistently, if not relentlessly, cool and rainy. Since we haven’t seen anybody new at Estabrook Park in a while, and even Charles Hagner has begun to wonder what’s going on with the spring migration, I thought I’d try the Shorewood Nature Preserve, just across town on the shore of Lake Michigan, for a change of pace and maybe to see some of the birds who somehow miss stopping in at Estabrook.

I am happy to say that it did not disapoint! Right off the bat, the water was full of dozens and dozens of red-breasted mergansers, whom we have seen in Estabrook already this spring, but never more than a few at a time. Today on Lake Michigan, there were too many for me to count, and here’s a drake doing his very best to impress a hen, but I’m not sure that it’s working.

There were also dozens and dozens of buffleheads, and here’s a drake cruising along with two hens whom it appears he does not feel the need to impress. I don’t believe I’ve seen buffleheads since last April.

I didn’t see any cormorants on the water, but a couple of large formations flew by just offshore, and here’s the tightest clump I could capture.

A bird that I did not expect to see today was this belted kingfisher, who made a noisy pass over the beach, perched on this railing, and caught quite the fish in very short order.

A bird I was thrilled to see was my very first Bonaparte’s gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia). They look quite similar to the black-headed gulls we saw in South Holland, but the black on their heads seems to extend a bit farther.

And finally, there was this single mystery duck. It looks sort of like a bufflehead, but was swimming alone, the top of its head looks reddish, the white patch on the side of its face is too big and continues down into the neck, and its bill is too long. I compared it against other likely suspects, ruddy ducks, scoters, and pochards, but nothing fits better. Please don’t hesitate to chime in if you can shed any light on this matter.

Lastly, I did visit Estabrook yesterday morning, but I only came away with two pictures worth the ink. The first is of a beaver floating still in the water, which I have not seen one do before.

And the second is of the goslings on the pond snuggling up under mom’s wing to keep warm during their nap.

I tried switching things up in Estabrook Park this morning, and I rode my bicycle to the north end to start my visit there. I’m thrilled to report that it gave me the chance to spend some quality time with our old friend, the beaver, enjoying its breakfast at the edge of the southern island.

Then I headed to the pond, and I encountered this perfect clump of violets along the way.

Up on the bluff, this bluebird was perched on a bridge railing and searching intently for its breakfast in the grass. We’ve seen them in this vacinity a couple of times already this spring, so let’s all hope that a pair nest there.

Meanwhile, in the ravine below the bridge, the great white trilliums are beginning to open.

I arrived at the pond just in time to catch this dashing couple of wood ducks striding across the green carpet of the west lawn, probably hoping to find something to eat.

On the east side of the pond, the staghorn sumac still has some seeds left from last year, if you can believe it, and this time it was a robin digging in.

Before I left the pond, I checked in on the goslings, and they had already finished eather and had all just gone down for their nap in the nice warm morning sun.

As I headed back to the river, I passed the mom and yearling heading toward the pond, and here’s the mom waiting for the youngster to catch up.

Finally, back at the river, there is a big patch of Virginia bluebells in full bloom.

The weather has been nice enough, if a little cool, in Estabrook Park lately, but I’ve struggled to capture pictures of pretty or interesting things, and after two days, here’s what I’ve managed to scrape together.

The four goslings on the pond continue to thrive, and here’s one looking our way for a second between bites of that tasty, tasty lawn grass.

Here are the four of them following mom for a swim.

And here are five mallard drakes who almost lined up perfectly.

In my hike along the river, I spotted five wood ducks up in a tree. There are four of them in the image below, and one more is off to the right a bit. We’ve seen two or three before like this, but this is the first time I’ve seen five.

Out on the water at the north end, there was another pair of blue-winged teals paying us a visit, and here’s the dapper drake with a mallard drake in the background to provide a sense of scale.

Meanwhile, back on land, lots of birds are collecting nest-building materials. Here’s a crow with a beak full of white fluffy stuff…

Here’s a grackle with a few wisps of grass, …

And here’s a robin with quite the haul of straw.

Here’s another robin adding some dark and scraggly-looking clump to its nest.

Back to eating habits, here’s a black-capped chickadee chowing down on fresh tamarack tree needles. “Mm! Mm! Good!”.

Finally, here’s a red squirrel pausing for a moment in the nice, warm sun this morning.

It was cold, dark, and rainy at “sunrise” this morning, so I waited a bit until it was only cold and dark, and then I went out to see who I could see.

The first to come a long were the mom and yearling white-tailed deer, and here’s mom acting again like she’s just sampling the vegetables.

We had a few surprise visitors on the river. The first is this blue-winged teal drake.

And this pair of hooded merganser hens was a second. There were also some tree swallows, but they stayed too far away for pictures today.

At the pond, I thought I saw a pair of eastern phoebes perched on branches over the water, but once I got a closer look and noticed how long their wings were, I realized that they were norther roughed-winged swallows instead.

Finally, the trio of goslings on the river and the quartet of goslings on the pond continue to do well, and here are a pair from the pond this morning looking just fine.

Since I came up a bit short with pictures this morning, here’s another look at the blue-gray gnatcatcher from yesterday.

Lastly, here’s another look at the red squirrel as it wonders if I’m being good and eating my vegatables, too.

This morning in Estabrook Park the weather turned out to be nicer than the forecast had led me to expect. It was cold enough overnight for radiation frost to form on any grass that was exposed to the sky, but the air was nearly still, and the clouds really thinned out for a while, so the sun warmed things up pretty quickly, and it became quite pleasant.

As I hiked north along the river toward the pond, I was greeted by this red squirrel as it ate its vegetables: likely fresh seeds from a cottonwood tree.

At the pond, I was happy to see this surprise visitor, a hooded merganser hen, swimming with the wood ducks.

Meanwhile, mom had her goslings all in a row up on the west lawn.

But that didn’t last long when sibling rivalries inevitably bubbled to the surface.

Dad tried to focus on his yoga instead, with hopes of keeping his stress levels under control.

As I headed across the softball field on my way back to the river, I encountered another trio of northern flickers. Here you can see two females doing a little dance together as a male watches from afar. Looks like high school, right?

Once one of the females flew his way, however, he seemed to get into the swing of things.

Back at the river, it was still cold enough to keep the bugs low, so this yellow-rumped warbler was foraging right at the water’s edge.

The great horned owl was up and not quite as deep in the sticks as it has been lately.

On the lawn at the north end, I found a bird that looks like a hermit thrush but was acting a little differently. My best guess is that’s because it’s actually a veery instead, with “uniformly bright cinnamon brown above” and “indistinct spotting on the chest and pale under parts.” If so, then it is fresh in from wintering grounds in South America. “Welcome back, little buddy!”

On my way back south, I found this yellow-bellied sapsucker sipping breakfast out of three fresh looking holes.

Finally, the blue-gray gnatcatchers have also returned from the south, but only from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico or Mexico proper. I spotted two, and this little puffball was kind enough to strike a pose against that pretty blue sky.

I was relieved to discover this morning that Estabrook Park had somehow survived Earth Day, or at least the human celebration of it. By the time I left the park yesterday, the Brew City Marathon, Half Marathon, 10K, and 5K races were in full swing, the Milwaukee Riverkeeper volunteers were combing the river banks for trash, and the soccer fields were full of little tykes playing games. And then the skies opened and nearly and inch of graupel fell in about 10 minutes. Happily, everything seemed back to normal this morning, and the goslings were up on the west lawn hunting up their breakfasts as if nothing had happened.

By the time I walked around to the other side of the pond, however, this curious, multi-species, and multi-generational scene was unfolding on the west lawn.

Things soon calmed down, and the goslings went for their morning swim.

As did the wood ducks.

Back on shore, I was surprised to find a dark-eyed junco who hadn’t flown north yet.

At the edge of the bluff, a trio of hermit thrushes were filling up on staghorn sumac seeds.

By then, I was cold enough, so I went back home, and to round-out this morning’s collection, here’s another look at that yellow-rumped warbler from yesterday morning.

And here’s another ruby-crowned kinglet, without a ruby crown, also from yesterday morning.

Finally, long-time reader Donna alerted me to a great horned owlet waiting for its dinner to be delivered.

The weather this morning was not too bad for April. A little cool, for sure, but the winds were light, and the sun was trying to come out. The goslings were grazing on the west lawn when I arrived at the pond, and as I watched from the bench, it became nap time.

There they all are, nice and cozy under mom’s wing.

Meanwhile, we had some surprise guests at the pond, this handsome couple of blue-winged teals….

and they sure were hungry! “Eat up, kids! We’re glad you’re here.”

And there was a sole field sparrow, with its pink beak, all puffed to keep warm up in the bushes beside the pond.

Finally, here’s a European starling peeking out of its nesting cavity in a dead tree standing over the pond.

I eventually headed back down to the river, and on my way, I heard and then finally spotted this brown thrasher. If you haven’t heard one, give a listen here. You won’t be disappointed.

Beside the river I spotted this grey squirrel padding its nest with straw. Perhaps there are little squirrels on the way.

At the north end, the northern rough-winged swallows have finally returned, and here’s one on break from hunting bugs over the river.

When the sun did poke through the clouds, this ruby-crowned kinglet was kind enough to give us just the slightest glimpse of its ruby crown.

Finally, this yellow-rumped warbler has some of the boldest black and yellow I’ve seen on this species. Compare it to the others we’ve seen this spring: on the 17th, the 11th, and the 10th.

Lastly, I was sure glad to make it home before the heavy, wet snow squall rolled through. As I explained above, the weather was nice for a while, but it is still April, after all.

The big news in Estabrook Park this morning is that there are indeed goslings on the pond: four, little, yellow puffballs.

Here’s a closer look.

Meanwhile, down by the river, this black-capped chickadee was making preparations for the same kind of action.

Here it is coming out of the cavity with a beak full of wood chips. There were two about, and I read that “the pair … excavates the hole together,” but the “sexes look alike,” so I can’t tell you which one this is.

Back up on the bluff, I found another white-breasted nuthatch holding a morsel in its beak, and this one was clearly calling while facing one way …

and then another. I read that the male “feeds her morsels of food,” and perhaps that is what this one was hoping to do.

Finally, a chipmunk was out and looking cute as ever, but which do you think is cuter? Tale down, and toes curled against chest, or …

tail up and curled around the toes?