It was surprisingly cold, but that was the most noteworthy aspect of this morning’s excursion. Leaves were frozen to the litter I picked up.

Later this afternoon I headed out again, the sun had warmed things up a bit, and I finally found a patch of trout lilies that have fully opened up. This is what they look like from below.

 Not too shabby, eh, for a blossom that might be about an inch across on a stalk about 4 inches tall.

Then I headed home for the tacos Anne was making out of the can of organic refried beans I found in the parking lot on Sunday, and just as I approached the Kilbourntown House near the south end of the park, look who deigned to pose for me.

Nope, not just the indigo bunting of good cheer, but the actual freaking eastern bluebird of happiness! Yee Haw!

These and some other pictures are online at https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewdressel/albums/72157713703616688

Nothing really new to show. Everyone is waiting for the goose eggs to hatch. It’s been nearly a month since my first picture of a goose on the nest, and their incubation period is supposed to be 32 days. I’ve heard reports of blue birds in the park, but they are hiding from me so far.

All I’ve got to show for two trips today is this willow tree, which seems to have had a rough time of it, but is starting to show green shoots at the top.

Some better pictures are online at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewdressel/albums/72157713703616688

Life in the pond appears to have entered a new phase. The geese and mallards are still there, and a hooded merganser and a kingfisher even popped in for a sec, but the grebe appears to have moved on and I don’t see much of the wood ducks any more. I’ve heard that there are a lot of mergansers to see down on the lake and grebes have been spotted on the river.

The trees and bushes are still full of red-winged blackbirds, cardinals, kinglets, yellow-rumped warblers, goldfinches, nuthatches, and creepers, but I’ve been told a new wave of migrants are waiting for the bugs to come out. Chet appears to have moved on for good.

Meanwhile, I did find this racoon mandible laying in the leaves just off the Oakleaf Trail.

And the mayapples are starting to unfurl their little umbrella leaves.

Some more pictures are online at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewdressel/albums/72157713703616688

I think it’s going to be busy like the Fourth of July.

The pond was very quite this morning with just the canada geese, a couple of mallards, and a few wood ducks. No mergansers, grebes, or teals.

The red-winged blackbirds and common grackles were plentiful, however, and making quite a bit of noise. Here’s a grackle showing off his iridescent blue head and bronze body in the bright sunlight. Perhaps that effect throws off my camera’s autofocus because all my images are a little out of focus.

On flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewdressel/albums/72157713703616688

The turtles were out sunning themselves again yesterday afternoon and posed themselves better for me.

Here’s a red-eared slider

and here’s a painted turtle

So there are at least three species: Red-eared sliders, Painted turtles, and the snappers that I have been warned about.

On flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewdressel/albums/72157713703616688

There was ice on the pond this morning, near the edges, thick enough to hold my keys! I took a picture for proof, of course, but it’s not much to look at. I can’t believe I’ve already seen frogs and tadpoles this “spring” swimming under the surface. Happily the sun was nice and bright, the breeze was light, and it soon felt warm enough for the nesting goose to get up, swim across to the lawn, and take a break.

I have noticed many fewer incidents lately of other geese needing to being chased off and a huge uptick in the number of red-winged blackbirds cavorting over the pond and flashing their colorful shoulder patches.

All the usual suspects were on the pond, and I didn’t see any new swimmers this morning, but there were plenty of new avian discoveries hopping about on the ground and in the nearby bushes. New for me were a veery (a type of thrush) and the colorful swamp sparrow pictured below. I also finally saw a mourning dove in the park and a female yellow-bellied sapsucker. Pairs of the sapsuckers and downy woodpeckers have been making quite a show of checking out trees together.

Not to be completely outdone, the mammals keep putting in appearances, like the eastern cottontail I spotted yesterday afternoon hiding in the brambles, of all places, between the park and the Oakleaf Trail. It’s west of Wilson, and so perhaps isn’t personally eating your tulips if you live on the east side.

Still no sign of activity at Chet’s duplex, but the little pied-billed grebe caught and choked down yet another fish nearly as long as its neck. Considering what I see all the other birds making do with, I seriously wonder what he’s doing with all those calories.

I try to keep a collection of the best images fresh on flickr at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewdressel/albums/72157713703616688

28°F and snow on the grass! Luckily, even if spring seems to be in retreat, the wildlife is charging full speed ahead. At least the wind has let up and the sun was shining.This morning, the canada geese pair, the pied-billed grebe, some wood ducks, and a slew of mallards were all on the pond, but the mergansers must have been elsewhere.
In the trees were a pairs of flickers, sapsuckers, downy woodpeckers, and red-winged blackbirds galore, all cavorting about.

The new sightings today include a white-breasted nuthatch and this little brown creeper. Nope, the image below is not upside down. He hopped along that branch as if gravity doesn’t even exist. It is mesmerizing for me to watch them go.

Yesterday afternoon I spotted a gull performing a touch-and-go on pond, a phoebe doing aerobatics just over the pond, and a male hooded merganser was back.

In the woods I spotted my first chipmunk of the season. Still no rabbits, though. Anne keeps reporting that she’s seeing them, but they elude me.

I try to arrange the best of the best images in a pleasing order on flickr at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewdressel/albums/72157713703616688

Puddles were frozen over and even the moisture in the top 1/2 inch or so of soil was crystalized and crunchy to walk on, but birds gotta eat, find mates, and stake out their territory, so things were about as busy as usual.

No major shake-ups on the pond. The canada geese pair, a few mallards, a few wood ducks, and the little pied-billed grebe, but no teals and no mergansers in sight.

Plenty of robins, cardinals, kinglets, and woodpeckers flitting about and singing their songs, but the duplex was empty again this morning.

The new finds for today are a hermit thrush foraging,

a female american goldfinch posing,

and a ring-billed gull checking out the parking lot.

The new action shots on flickr are a red-winged blackbird belting out his song and the grebe gulping down another fish.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewdressel/albums/72157713703616688

Plenty of trees are blossoming, but no magnolias yet, so I struggle to capture that in an image that doesn’t just look like a tree without leaves.

Nobody new on the pond this morning. The canada geese pair, bachelor mallards, wood duck pairs, red-breasted merganser, and little pied-billed grebe were all there. The hooded merganser and pair of blue-winged teals were nowhere to be seen. There were plenty of birds in the branches and bushes, but it was far too cold for me to sit still long enough to catch one.

After checking in on Chet’s empty duplex, I headed down to the river to try to get out of the wind. I got really close to a belted kingfisher who didn’t notice me until I tried to pull out my camera. Luckily, a mature herring gull and the juvenile he bullied away were too interested in the fish on the opposite bank to pay any attention to me.

But, meh. You’ve seen pictures of seagulls before, so here’s one from yesterday afternoon when both geese were off the nest again and having an extended and animated conversation about something. At least I saw the operation from the start and there was no obvious instigating event. It just seemed that the one on the nest decided it was a good time to take a break. I still couldn’t see eggs in the nest, but I have a hope they are really there and just too low for me to see.

As always, I try to curate the best of my pictures on flickr at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewdressel/albums/72157713703616688

Oh yeah! I completely forgot to mention that I spotted the amazing activity pictured below on the lawn sloping down to the pond this morning …

At first, I thought it was just a weird version of those gummy-worm-type fishing lures (pictured below) because I was already bending down to pick up a couple of fish hooks, which seem like bad things for little webbed feet to be walking on, eh?

As soon as I touched “it”, however, “it” sprang to life, separated into two, and each half quickly retracted back into its own hole. I definitely did not have time to get a picture of it, I am truly sad to report, but I did find this spitting image of the one seared into my brain online at https://www.buglife.org.uk/blog/glorious-earthworms/, which also had these fascinating tidbits to report:

“Soil biologists believe that earthworms are the most abundant animal biomass in most terrestrial ecosystems, heavier per hectare than grazing mammals or insects.”
“After their bisexual exchange each Lob worm will lay about five eggs,” but the ones I saw were not necessarily “Lob worms”.

Happy Easter!