Early April visit - a few ducks, a few smaller birds, a few flowers, a few turtles and a small flock of Bohemian waxwings. Second visit in late April produced a red-winged blackbird on our car and a strutting turkey amongst other things.
The Bohemian waxwings drop by every year in the spring; large flocks and small flocks at times. They are very flighty and don't settle while eating the buckthorn berries.
They are such a nice looking bird, and only around for a week or so, that I've posted too many pictures🙄 Look closely at the last one and you'll see a red tongue
I liked this flight sequence
Song sparrows are everywhere, this one was up on the ridge, the resting mallard pair surprisingly were on the ridge as well, the other mallard pair and the merganser pair were in the river
Downies, chickadees and nuthatches were happy to hand feed as usual
A male mallard/black duck mix looked like he was examining his reflection
Three male mallards, a male mallard/black duck mix and a lone female were out for a swim in the middle of the lake
Seemed the wood duck pair were getting in the mood....
Lots of squirrels - one grey was hoping for a handout. The black one with the white tipped tail is still around.
The stonecrop and another plant were showing signs of spring growth
The maples were budding and an evergreen, with a weak base, finally succumbed to a burst of wind it seems.
The scilla that was planted many years ago is always a welcome sight in early spring.
Towards the end of the month, the trout lilies (aka dog tooth violets) started blooming.
At least one Canada Goose was on nest, four others were still sorting out their pairings it seemed.
Several ring-billed gulls were around, some coming in for landings while others coasted by overhead (including one with just a single leg)
An egret did a distant fly past and a cormorant flapping furiously flew overhead
A single tom (male) turkey was attempting to interest a single hen (female) turkey
While all this was going on, a red-winged blackbird was trying to mate with its reflection in our car mirror. As soon as we parked, he came to the car mirror and was still there two hours later when we came back to the car. He didn't catch the hint when we folded the car mirror
Painted turtles were taking advantage of the mild weather to warm themselves.
