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?

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.