Easter Parade and Touring Around

 Things have been rather slow recently, so not much in the way of new sightings as Easter is now in the rear view mirror.

Not the Easter Bunny!

Easter Sunday, I went to Rondeau and paraded out marsh trail.  Surprisingly, nothing new in the way of birds.  There are countless scaup on the Bay.  Seems like more than usual this year.

  On my way back, a Brown Thrasher was singing atop at tree.  It was way up in dull lighting, so not good for a photo.

Monday turned out quiet nice, at least in my area.  After touring around a bit, I went for a long walk at Reid CA for exercise.  The cool weather has not enticed plants to change much, but some of the early wildflowers are starting to show.

Purple Cress

Virginia Spring Beauty

Sharp-lobed Hepatica

Leaves have a sharp point, as opposed to Round-leaved Hepatica.

As always, I checked the shoreline for mussels.  Mapleleaf is regular here.  These two pair were together in one spot.

Here is a very small one from Moore WMA.  Its distinctive outer shell pattern is a giveaway.

I found two more Lilliput mussels.  Not sure why I have never seen them anywhere before, but I now know what to look for!  Nice to know that these critically-imperiled creatures are here.  Distinctively small.

With some recent rain, things are still quiet wet, which is a good thing.

Old Rivercourse at Reid CA

Tuesday was rainy, so I drove around quite a bit in the Erieau-Rondeau area, but never came across anything of interest much to my dismay.

Today was mostly cloudy, but with some sunny breaks.  I went to Mitchell's Bay first thing, then toured around by car.  Some creatures are already nesting, or building nests.  Looks like this Wood Duck was checking out a nesting box.

On my travels, I came across a few Lapland Longspurs.

There was not much in the way of blackbirds.  Yellow-headed should be arriving now.  We often see them in the fields when they first come in, but I saw none today.  There was one near Jacob Road a number of days ago, where we often see them.

It will still be cool and wet for a few days it appears, so only a few things will be trickling in.  And creatures will be doing their thing.  Here is a neat photo from the past.

(Garter Snake with chorus frog)