Spring: Episode 2

 The crazy part of spring is over, but it was good while it lasted. In late April we had some pretty fierce thunderstorms here in the Bluegrass and the park where I work was flooded—with water and birds both. Warblers, vireos, thrushes, grounded during their nocturnal migration by heavy wind and rain, were dripping off the limbs in a dizzying array of color and sound. One tree alone yielded blackpoll, Blackburnian, yellow and bay-breasted warblers, as well as warbling and red-eyed vireos; back in the woods, Swainson’s thrushes flitted through the trees above a foot of standing floodwater. Decent weather gave the birds time to refuel and within a couple days they were on their way farther north, leaving only a scattering of residents behind.

Water, water everywhere...

Now we’ve settled into phase II: It’s baby time!

2nd year bullfrog tadpole

Hatchling red-eared slider. This little guy or gal was somewhere between quarter and silver dollar sized.

Male and female Canada geese with their brood, the day of hatching. It's important to remember when you see these adorable fuzzy babies that the mortality rate for goslings hovers right around 50%. The moral of the story is that science ruins everything with its daggone data.