I have been walking every day. It really is great to get out and watch Spring unfold. Nature seems undisturbed by our struggles with the Coronavirus. What a switch! We are usually disturbing her and now the roles are reversed! Will we stop to consider our impact on Creation? Will we just return to our ways of wanton consumerism and destruction?
But nature is simply being her Springtime self. At Vischer Ferry this week I was blown away by the sounds of the frogs. I know one of the species is Spring peepers. But I heard other frogs too. Perhaps wood frogs? Creaking and trilling. The sound was so loud! Painted turtles congregated on logs, unmindful of social distancing. A piliated woodpecker was excavating a nesting hole. His? Her? large body would all but disappear into the hole, do some chipping away and pop out. Very interesting, since piliated woodpeckers create large rectangular holes in trees and this hole was perfectly round. It seems like the hole was made by another woodpecker species and commandeered by the piliated!
Ah, the ducks! Wigeons, mallards by the score, ring-necked ducks having a convention, gadwalls and yes, finally a pair of wood ducks! My pilgrimages to various ponds and waterways were finally rewarded with a resplended male and his nondescript mate. They swam in and out of the rushes and old loosestrife. I was so excited especially because they are easily missed.
I also saw my first goldfinch very gold and searching for a mate. The Canada geese were a bit better behaved, at least no one was trying to tear the throat out of a rival!
Spring continues to amaze. What are you seeing?


courtesy of allaboutbirds.com