Week in Pictures: March 20 to April 4

Before I get started on the 'Week in Pictures' I want to make sure you all know that my last post Exciting News - New Nomenclature was an April Fool's joke.  Actually, there was some truth in it, such as the Peruvian screech-owl (Otus petersoni)  named after Rory Tory Peterson (read about it here).   Also, there was some wishful thinking in the post, as well, because I’ve personally never liked the word 'common' in a bird's or plant's name.  As I mentioned a lot in that post, there really is a four letter bird code, and an AOU and BSA, but (unfortunately?) none of the name changes are real.
 
It’s a busy time of the year... with lots of things happening in the natural world.  I’ve been busy as well, so I decided to just wrap-up this past week with pictures. 

Sunday started off very cold.  What little water that had been open on the swamp was frozen solid.  This Canada Goose might have been wondering what happened!

By Sunday afternoon, the sky was a beautiful blue, as I caught this male Red-winged Blackbird singing.

Monday, I was surprised to look out my kitchen window and see a wild turkey hustling thru the yard.

Tuesday... nothing special must have happened because I don't have any photos from that day!


Wednesday morning brought a dusting of snow.  The goldfinches are molting.  This male might not look very pretty now, but soon he will have his new bright coat.

This robin left the snowy ground to eat sumac berries.

The cold (and lack of open water) made close companions of this muskrat and 2 Canada Geese. 

Whatever the weather is like, our pair of Eastern Bluebirds have been visiting this nest box every morning.

 I cleaned out the box last fall, but Mama must have told Papa to make sure it was perfect, because he went inside and came out with a little piece of grass in his bill.

Wednesday was the busiest day all week, with the thermometer reaching a high of 64.5 degrees.  Flocks of Canada Geese and Snow Geese were flying overhead.

In the morning, our resident Canada Geese had been making tracks all over the new snow in the swamp.

They each have their territories, and if one pair thinks the other pair is threatening theirs, this is what happens...

and this!

Friday brought 3 more migrants back from down south.  First, a lone Tree Swallow (I'm sure there will be more soon).

Below is the first Yellow-bellied Sapsucker I've seen this year.  Hopefully he was finding some insects in that telephone pole... I'm pretty sure the sap is long gone!

This pretty pair of Wood Ducks arrived in our swamp in the afternoon.

Good news for Hank the Heron... he's been joined by another heron!  Time will tell if it will be a mate for Hank.

I have to show you this photo of some Mallards from Friday evening.  Just so you can see my ducks are all in a row.

Finally, two photos to compare the amount of ice on the swamp -- first from Thursday morning:

 And this photo from this afternoon (Saturday):

Looks like Spring is making progress!