Spring on steroids

Spring-like weather seems to have taken forever to arrive this year, but today it felt like we skipped spring altogether and went right into summer! The temp was unusually high at 73º and on top of that it was extremely humid -quite strange for early April! It made for a great visit though as I spent nearly 2 hours making my way around and taking just under 100 photos. I had a hard time choosing what to post because I saw so much. First were a pair of Tree Swallows that were zooming around one of the wooden bird houses on the north side. It's an exciting sign of more colorful birds starting to come back to the park. Just a short time later I was stunned to see a 3 foot Garter Snake on the path. It seemed a bit early to see a snake but I was just now checking my older posts and saw that my first snake sighting last year was Sunday, April 11th -so exactly one year ago to the day. What are the odds of that? Surprisingly, snakes weren't the only reptile out today. I later saw a few painted turtles sunning themselves in the small body of water by the east side baseball fields. I shot a couple pics but as I walked further I ran into 2 more just sitting on the ground right off the trail. This side of the park was quite flooded by snow melt and there's still water everywhere hence the turtles. I've seen Great Blue Herons flying overhead since late March but I've not seen many stop in the park until recently. I swear they are 10 times more skittish than any Deer in the park so I often have to stalk them for a while to get a decent photo. They are an interesting bird as they can look quite different in every photo. I had an easier time locating this one against the backdrop of cattails by looking for his reflection in the water so I decided to include that in my photo. As I was making my way back to the parking lot I could see Bald Eagle seemingly sitting right on top of the water. As I got closer I could see that he was perched on a small portion of a branch barely jutting above the surface. It was funny because Canada Geese would swim right by him and he would tip his head as if he thought they were strange looking birds or something. He put his wings up once to balance himself as he turned to face the other way but I missed that picture moment.

Meal for a Hawk

This evening after work was partly sunny and 54 degrees and just begged for a visit to the park. Though it was another short one, I was able to do it without a jacket for the first time in roughly 5 months! From the paved trail on the far western edge, I noticed a large bird perched low to the ground on a fallen tree. It was a Hawk feasting on a recent kill and making a lot of commotion. In fact as I watched, it began making loud noises unlike most calls I've ever heard from a Hawk before. Then I noticed a second Hawk perched on the same log further to the left. Eventually the first Hawk flew off while still making these loud calls and the second Hawk moved in to finish up the scraps. Both looked like the same species and my best guess is that they were Coopers Hawks. I could see red eyes on one for sure but both had that bluish, slate gray appearance to their back side.

Quick evening visit

I didn't make it to the park this Sunday until almost 7pm. There were quite a few Deer to be seen again and they were pretty much the only thing of interest this evening. Not only am I spotting them in their usual locations but for the first time it's easy to spot them way out in the middle of the park. Because the Cattails took such a beating this winter, you can see Deer moving clear across the opposite side of the park sometimes. The lighting was just too poor for my cheap camera all evening so even when I did get closer, my shots weren't turning out good. Later I crept along quietly near the creek on the south side hoping to see a Mink again. There was no sign of them or anything else -just a very flooded lake basin. It's hard to tell from this pic but the eastern body of water still has ice on it, while the western side is completely ice free.

New month

April has finally arrived and it feels good to have the snowiest months behind us now. The early morning temps are still below freezing so I had dressed accordingly warm. The big difference now is that temperatures can climb up into the mid 40's before I make it around. So there I was today in my heavy winter jacket and stocking cap while joggers ran by me in shorts. From the parking lot I noticed a group of black and white Ducks on the far end of the lake. I assumed they were more Goldeneyes but when I looked closer I could not see the white patch on the head. Then I realized they were Common Mergansers. I'd only ever seen one single female last fall so these were the first males I've spotted at the park. On the southwest side I noticed Pussy Willows blooming and speckling the horizon with bright white dots. The trees should be budding any day now too. The last few weeks has been good for Deer sightings and I'm averaging about 10-12 every walk. Today was about the same but the first ones I saw were also being admired by a lot of other park goers within just feet of the trail. All 3 looked like young ones and they were tilting their heads in the air trying to smell me.