Sorry I’m late. There was rain and then school and then blah, blah, blah. The good news is that the sun came out for a bit this afternoon, I was able to make a swing through the park, and the first critter I saw was this common yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas), one of the many warblers passing through these days.

Just north of him, I found two new blossoms open in the park. This pretty, pale wild geranium (Geranium maculatum)

Right beside it was this pretty blue Jacob’s Ladder, possibly (Polemonium reptans)

Continuing north, the Baltimore oriole was back in the same spot as yesterday, and I took one more crack at a decent portrait of him. The best one was when he was just about to take off to evade a red-winged blackbird who thought the territory was his.

North of him, I came across a huge gaggle of goslings. It was hard to count, but I’d bet easily a dozen, with just two adults. Maybe a bunch of them just got in the wrong van at the rest stop, and now this one is all wore out.

I did see two adults with just two goslings a bit later, and they were headed in the right direction if some of these belong to them.

Finally, I reached the robin’s nest, and as luck would have it, it was feeding time again.

Tell me this look doesn’t say it’s always feeding time these days.

By then the sun was really out, and this blue-winged teal drake looks just gorgeous in it, doesn’t he? It is so great to have some green grass to reflect off the water instead of just brown mud and sticks.

I came across this solitary sandpiper who I thought was napping, so I carefully crept real close, and when I finally zoomed in, look who was probably keeping an eye on me the whole time, despite my best efforts.

Next, I swung by the pond, and there were a few wood ducks, a pair of teals, and a couple of guys with long lenses, so I pretty much kept moving. Not so fast though that I couldn’t spare a 1/4000th of a second for this sight.

On my way home, I spotted this critter making the most of the warm afternoon sun.

Lastly, just north of the southern exit, I finally captured a decent portrait of a European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) so you can see the striking white tips to its dark feathers.

Okay, now I gotta write and exam for tomorrow.

It was a perfectly gorgeous morning in the park, though cold enough to frost the grass, and either that or the high water has silenced the toads, at least for now. In any case, I am happy to report that what I did see this morning should clear up a few mysteries.

Mystery number one: is that how the robin chicks are supposed to look? The images below showing mom pumping worms into them suggest that the answer is yes. So yay, they really are alive, and boy to they look hungry!

I even spotted two adult robbins at that nest for the first time, and managed to capture an image just as one flew off, but it’s not very pretty. It’ll be something to look for next time.

Mystery number two, at least for me: why am I hearing a house wren now every time I take a picture of the robin on her nest. The images below speak for themselves, I believe.

Just in case they don’t speak as clearly to you, that’s a house wren going in and out of its nesting hole in an old tree trunk right near where I stand to take pictures of the robin on her nest.

Mystery number three: whose tail feathers were those we saw at the back of a nesting hole in a tree trunk yesterday. Answer: a downy woodpecker.

I also spotted two of them on the trunk as I walked up, and a beautiful view of one coming out of the hole, but I was too slow with the camera to show you those.

I also spotted tree swallows popping out of a hole way up in the trunk of a tree on the northern island, but the images aren’t worth showing. Instead, I found these two resting on a branch close enough that you can see the shiny dark-blue feathers on the tops of their heads.

So that makes six birds we’ve seen going in and out of nesting holes in the park so far this spring: red-bellied woodpeckers, black-capped chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, a house wren (above), downy woodpeckers (above), and tree swallows (or so I claim). I had no idea there would be so many.

Now, on to the warbler report, and first up, at the north end of the park, near where we saw the yellow-rumped warbler almost three weeks ago, is this striking black-throated green warbler (Setophaga virens). Don’t you just love the names on these little rascals?

Next is this aptly-named yellow warbler (Setophaga petechia).

Finally, the palm warblers are everywhere, and this one wanted us to have a slightly better picture than what I was able to show you yesterday.

Oh, one interesting thing I heard first this morning, while listening for warblers, was something that sounded like a gerbil gnawing on its Habitrail®. I searched and searched, and after I gave up and started walking south, I spotted this critter right over the trail methodically ripping strips of bark off a dead tree. One author claims that they use it for nesting material.

I heard plenty of Baltimore orioles again this morning and captured this image of a male showing off his racing stripes

The solitary sandpipers have been pretty quiet, but they are not yet quite at their breeding grounds, and they sure seem to be in no rush to get there.

Okay. Last one. We’ve got just one more new arrival, and this one’s not a warbler. While there is such a thing as a black-throated blue warbler, their blue is really more slate, if you ask me. Instead, if you want a really blue bird, you can hardly do better than the indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea), and I spotted this one today on the trail amongst the warblers and sparrows, just in from south Florida, the Caribbean, or Central America.

Before I go, I saw no goslings on the river again, but the goslings are still on the pond, the second goose is still incubating on the island, and there were blue-winged teals amongst the wood ducks and mallards this morning.

First, the basics. The kids that I saw seemed to be all right on this cool and cloudy morning. The park was relatively empty, and I spotted a couple of wood ducks on the pond, so I sat on the bench to see if they would pay me a visit. It appears they have been well conditioned by the folks that feed them, and it didn’t take them long to swim on over.

The goslings and their folks were not far behind.

There were also four mallard drakes and even this red-winged blackbird couple. She seemed to be signaling to him quite energetically, but he was more interested at the moment in finding some breakfast in the grass.

For a few minutes, it was like a bird circus on the lawn.

Heck, even a belted kingfisher stopped by and let everyone know while he was doing so. He kept to the far shore, but it was a treat even to be allowed to gaze upon him. They are often shyer than that.

The party eventually wound down, since I had brought no food, and when the goslings left, so did I.

At the river, the water was up at least a foot from all the rain last night, but the toads were still singing like crazy, among other things, and more were still just arriving. I did a quick chick check, and things still seem to be progressing with our robins. Mom still keeps them warm, and I think they or their feathers are starting to fill up the nest.

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Further north along the river, both the spotted and solitary sandpipers were busy foraging.

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I didn’t see any of the river goslings, but there were still plenty of geese, mallards, and even a few blue-winged teals at the north end.

Some surprise visitors, whom we haven’t seen in months, were the four deer, done with their drab grey winter coats and sporting their warm cinnamon summer colors. I only took pictures of this young buck with antlers starting to come in, but I caught a glimpse of three more.

Another new sight, which I only discovered because of the sound, are the tail feathers of somebody hard at work excavating a new nesting cavity. I tried and tried to capture the feathers deep in that dark hole, and whoever it was never stopped chipping at the wood nor came out to show its face.

Okay, with all the preliminaries finally out of the way, on to the main event, the warblers.

First, there were a slew of these sharp-looking palm warblers (Setophaga palmarum) up and down the riverbank.

A few black-and-white warblers (Mniotilta varia) gave me another photo opportunity, which I tried my best to make better use of.

I did also see, but fail to capture, at least one yellow-rumped warbler (Setophaga coronata), and possibly a pine warbler. One little critter that I was surprised to capture is this ever acrobatic blue-gray gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea)

Finally, the Baltimore orioles (Icterus galbula) have just arrived, all the way from Florida, the Caribbean, or Central America. I kept hearing their call, but kept thinking I was hearing the “Exsqueeze Me!“, which I believe chickadees make. Then, while I was focusing on something else, my brain finally supplied the correct lyrics, which are “Stop Right There!“, and I finally realized who I was listening to. Ha!

Oh, and speaking of bird calls, I also recognized the call of a wren, tracked it down a bit, and this was my reward.

Lastly, these trilliums were up right beside the trail, and they looked so nice that I couldn’t just walk on by.

The breaking news is that the American toads (Anaxyrus americanus) are getting busy down on the river!

That singing I heard for the first time yesterday and again today is from toads, not tree frogs, as I had mistakenly thought, and they are probably busy in the pond, too. On the little stretch of river bank by the southern robin’s nest, there must have been a couple dozen toads either calling to each other, swimming around looking for each out, or already hooking up. The couple above, couldn’t even wait till they made it to the water, and the larger female was carrying the male on her back as she hopped across the grass towards the river. As the fine folks at Connecticut Wildlife succinctly put it:

“A male grabs the female around her chest with his front legs and clings
until she lays her eggs in the water. He deposits sperm on top of them.“

Here are two other couples who did manage to make it into the water.

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The river water moves especially slow there, which probably also attracts the toads, and so the suds that form as it goes over the falls upstream accumulate there as well. As Emily Bernhardt, The James B. Duke Distinguished Professor at Duke University, explained to Sam Evans-Brown on NPR last month:

“but if your foam is sort of creamy and smells like fish, compost or
cut grass—that’s a natural foam. It’s not harmful, it’s just some cool
chemistry mixed with a bit of turbulence.”

The suds don’t seem to deter the toads, and here’s one guy singing in the suds…

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When I first walked up, the singing went silent of course, and I figured it would be hard to spot even one of the singers, but as I slowly looked around, I started seeing them everywhere, and some even resumed singing.

I did also manage to spot one bullfrog elsewhere along the river, but I think they are just getting started, and not yet in full swing as the toads are.

Okay, back to our continuing coverage of the hatchling situation. First, the goslings in the pond and on the river all seem to be doing fine and growing up fast. Here are five of the six on the pond being guarded by their doting parents.

And here are two of at least three families on the river, both with seven. If you count them, you can find the head of the 14th poking out from under Mom’s belly.

The robin chicks also seem to be progressing, despite appearances. Mom is always nearby if not on the nest, they appear repositioned in images taken at different times, and they appear to be growing feathers. Yay, but don’t tell John Gurda, who seems to have a thing about robins.

The second robin, just a bit north, as doing that thing today where she perches on the edge of her nest instead of nestling down it for the first time I’ve seen, so perhaps hers are hatched or beginning to hatch as well, but her nest is higher, and I don’t yet have a good way to sneak a shot of the inside.

Okay, on to the new arrivals, and first up is this handsome grey catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) feasting on staghorn sumac seeds on the slope down to the river from the beer garden. I also got to enjoy one singing a beautiful song but the lighting was bad for that shot.

The  toadshade (Trillium sessile) or red trillium that we saw early in April is now about as open as I’ve seen it get, which is good timing.

And the jack-in-the-pulpits (Arisaema triphyllum) are up, too.

Finally, I know I’ve posted pictures of several different shades of violets, but I was struck today by how resplendent they are looking this spring. If you get the chance, you should definitely come to see them for yourself while they are looking this good. There are carpets of them everywhere I look it seems.

Lastly, Prof Young, who sent in that cool coyote shot from the sidewalk in front of her house last summer, reports:

“High up on EMS [the Engineering and Mathematical Sciences building at UWM]…
have you seen this lately  http://falconcam.biosci.uwm.edu/webcam/birdcam/“

And

“And another story. Our neighbors are away and on the way to the garage to get out the mom’s taxi wheels, I hear a scratching, scrabbling sound from the neighbors, looked over and saw a large raven perched on the window cover, reaching down into the purple finch nest tucked between the window and the downspout, helping himself to a wee naked chick and flying up into a maple tree to perch and consume his breakfast. Aaaaah – nature red in tooth and claw!  And ravens gotta eat too. No camera on hand unfortunately. “

It’s a short report today ’cause we’ve got visitors. My fully-vaccinated mom and dad, whom we haven’t seen since December 2019, have stopped by, and Dad came along on the park walk this morning to act as my spotter.

We hit the pond first, and the new family with goslings, the one on the northern tip of the island, whom we first saw just yesterday, was out for a swim this morning.

The goose on the southern tip was still incubating, a green heron was back, and there were the usual few mallards and wood ducks about.

At the river, the robin chicks in the southern nest appear to be progressing with feathers starting to come in. Mom was off the nest when we arrived, as usual, but she let me know I was too close when I snapped this shot with my phone as fast as I could without making any sudden moves. Meanwhile, the mom on the northern nest was on it, as usual, when we went by.

We also saw 3 other families with goslings, a few water thrushes, more green herons, a sandpiper or two, and even my first grey catbird of the season. I look forward to hearing their song.

On our way home, we stopped by the pond again, where I was stunned to find another solitary sandpiper, taking a breather on its way to the north shore of Lake Superior. The pond doesn’t have much for sand, so I hope it finds one of the many sandbars down on the river exposed by the low water.

Also at the pond, the old apple trees are starting to bloom, and kudos to Karen for correctly identifying the wild strawberry blossom from yesterday.

Finally, at the south end, this male goldfinch was singing so nice and looking so sharp in its new yellow coat and bright morning sun that I just had to take a picture.

Lastly, besides the recent heat wave, I believe I heard tree frogs singing for the first time this season, and I’ve already seen a couple of dragon flies, so it really feels like summer must be just around the corner.

First, we’ve got goslings on the island in the pond at last, and I don’t think they’ve even gone for their first swim yet. There were none yesterday afternoon, and Dad was standing guard in his usual spot just offshore, but when I checked this morning, he was napping on the island for the first time I’ve ever seen, so I figured something must be up.

Sure enough, after a bit of waiting, look who snuck a peak at this big ol’ world. We don’t know who many there are yet, but based on the amount of jostling that was going on under that wing, I’d guess three at the minimum.

There wasn’t much else going on, and with a real-feel temperature of 42°, I didn’t guess that there’d be swimming any time soon, so I headed down to the river.

There I found one of the river geese families just waking up. Somebody was hungry!

And soon they were all up foraging, while Mom keeps a watchful eye on the sky. There’s been some hawks about lately.

Next, I checked on one of our nesting robins, and she was oddly perched over her nest.

Since she wasn’t actually incubating, I took a risk and nudged her off for a second to take a peak inside. Boy, I sure hope that’s how they are supposed to look. At least the other two have hatched, so that’s gotta be a good sign, right? As soon as I backed away, Mom went right back to it, and the other robin was just on her nest as usual.

At the north end, I spotted two more goose families out for their morning swims already, and as I tried to take their picture with them both lined up just right, somebody photobombed the shot.

I thought it was one of the sandpipers we’ve already seen, but then a real sandpiper showed up to nudge it out of the way.

Ha! By the looks of those long yellow legs and the lack of streaking on the flanks, I’m gonna say we’ve got ourselves a lesser yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) on its way from wintering along the Gulf of Mexico to breeding grounds along Hudson Bay. There were at least three of them filling up.

Then the sun went a way, so I headed back to the pond in case there were any new developments. On my way, I came across this handsome white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys), also on its way to Hudson Bay and without any of the yellow displayed by the white-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) who only has to fly a bit further north in Wisconsin and who we saw singing about Canada a couple of weeks ago.

I did notice a new flower up at the pond. Anybody know this one?

Oh, and before I forget, during the visit to the pond I mentioned above, I spotted a red-heard slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) finally up from its long winter slumber to compete with the painted turtles for prime spots on logs in the sun.

And finally, there was a black-and-white warbler (Mniotilta varia) just daring me to capture an image of it not moving.

As April heads for the door, there’s a lot to report, and let’s start with the egg roundup.

Both geese on the pond are still incubating, and both robins beside the river were on their nests this chilly morning, although I did capture this sight during a spot-check yesterday afternoon.

It appears that we have one freshly hatched robin chick, and a fisherman was standing too close to the nest for Mom’s comfort. He must not have heard her scolding him, but after I took this image, realized what was going on, and asked him if he would move down the bank a bit, he obliged without complaint. Mom was soon back on her nest, and she was on it again this morning, so I have no new news, which I’m sure we all hope is good news.

Meanwhile, there are still goslings on the river, and this family was on the mudflats just south of the robin’s nest above. Here they are getting ready for their morning nap.

Here they are heading out for second breakfast.

And here they are back at the buffet again, while Dad keeps stands guard. I’m not sure Mom likes this place, but the goslings must have seen the bright green grass and headed right for it with Mom and Dad in tow.

While I was there, our buddy the muskrat swam by again…

And a pair of teals headed down river with a pair of wood ducks, but I couldn’t quite catch them as close together as last time.

The raptors were out in force, perhaps because they’ve also got mouths to feed now.

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I finally managed some slightly better images of the cowbirds that appear to be involved in some intricate mating rituals recently.

Meanwhile, from over in Downer Woods, Kelly and Mark have sent in some fantastic images to update us on their owls. The owlet is growing up fast, and by the look on its face, I’d say it is now in the owl equivalent of the teenage years.

Dad brought home dinner, and can’t you just hear “Aw, raw rabbit again? Why can’t we just order pizza?”

Back in Estabrook, a squirrel enjoys an apple core that someone helpfully left behind.

And some wild fruit tree, maybe cherry, is in blossom beside the parkway.

I stopped by the pond for a quick check on the egg situation on this grey morning before going to campus and look who I saw up in a tree in the middle of the island.

Its our old pall from last summer, the green heron (Butorides virescens), back from wintering along the Gulf of Mexico. Talk about your classic “snowbird”, eh? There were actually two of them, but I didn’t see the second one until they decided to go fishing.

Luckily, I knew to look for them because I had been tipped of by Gina and Jim, who posted a nice couple of pictures on Instagram last evening. Otherwise I might have missed them altogether.

Also at the pond was this little ruby-crowned kinglet, delightfully whistling while he foraged for bugs from branch to branch, all the while teasing me with glimpses of his little ruby crown.

Lastly, I caught a glimpse of another newcomer to the pond, a female or immature Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus), back from wintering approximately south of the Mason-Dixon Line and whom we haven’t seen since last May.

Meanwhile, the wood ducks, mallards, and geese were about, and the two expectant moms were still on their nests so no goslings yet. I also checked the close two robins on the river, and have nothing new to report from there yet either.

I went to check on the goslings first thing, of course, and I was thrilled to find them doing just fine and back at the mainland breakfast buffet. Best of all, there was even another batch!

While I was trying to get the picture below showing both families at once a hawk shot right through the scene at about 4 feet off the deck. I thought for sure it was a Cooper’s hawk, and I couldn’t see where it landed, but the geese didn’t seem to care what kind of hawk it was nor where it landed and just made a bee-line for the water.

After they were all safely afloat, I started to proceed north, and that’s when the hawk came out of hiding and flew straight towards me at just about eyeball level. Like a true pro, I simply froze and enjoyed the sight as it flew right past me not even 10 feet way. Where’s the cameraman from Wild Kingdom when we need him?

The hawk, it appears, had its heart set on a gosling, took another pass at them on the open water, was rebuffed by the parents, and finally perched on this branch just above them to plan its next move.

Anyway, when it appeared that the hawk was gonna hang out there for a while, I tore myself away from all that excitement, and I continued north once again. That’s when I encountered new goose family number three (3!).

Holy Mackerel, that’s a lot of goslings!

On my way back south, I checked on the two nesting robins, who are still doing fine, and swung by the pond to find the two nesting geese doing the same. There were also two other pairs of geese, four mallard drakes, and eight wood ducks on the pond this morning.

Back at the river, over the mudflats, this sparrow posed so nicely that I had to take a picture, and given the location, it should come as no surprise that it appears to be a swamp sparrow (Melospiza georgiana).

Further south, I did finally spot a couple of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) perched on branches for a change and so finally managed to get images sufficient to make a positive ID. Maybe next time the sky will be that beautiful blue we get from time to time, and maybe they’ll perch on my side of the river.

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Continuing south, I annoyed yet another robin by bumbling too close to her nest, which I simply did not see until she warned me about it, and I apologized profusely for my error.

Man, our odds of seeing freshly-hatched robin chicks keeps going up.

Anyway, while trying to get the picture above, from a comfortable distance, I noticed a serviceberry tree (Amelanchier arborea) in blossom halfway up the bluff. They also go by equally colorful “shadberry” and “juneberry”.

Back along the river, I spotted this little bird right at the water and thought it was yet another sparrow, maybe a chirping sparrow because of the eye stripe, but upon closer inspection, I am currently convinced it is instead a northern waterthrush (Parkesia noveboracensis). It’s right on the water, after all, and just look at that thin little beak and dark belly streaks. Best of all, if you’re a warbler nut, it’s not even a thrush at all. Instead, it’s a “thrushlike warbler”, and a legitimate member of the family Parulidae, the “new world warblers”. They winter in the Caribbean and Central America, and this one has almost reached its breed grounds just a little bit north of here. Man, the picture is so brown, I was almost not going to use it. Good thing I checked, eh?

Turns out, we’ve even seen one of these before, last fall. On September 6, 2020, it was the first migrant that we saw heading south.

Oh! Before I forget, the trilliums are starting to bloom! Specifically white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), I believe.

Finally, look who I saw keeping an eye on me as I tried to take a picture of some flowers.