Boiling Over

Well, the pond has been boiling over with activity during the past two days. Friday (it’s now Sunday a.m.) two mallards dropped in during the morning. Four wood ducks followed in the mid- afternoon. Yesterday, even more avian traffic. Six wood ducks splashed down in the afternoon. They were joined at sunset by two more. These made a way stop in the trees before joining their pals on the pond. Wood ducks are tree dwellers, so they’re right at home in a branchy hangout.

We’re apparently on an increasingly popular migration path. I think I’ll have to put in a third runway to help incoming and outgoing traffic deal with crosswinds.

My lovely bride has informed me that two mallards just splashed down on the pond. They’ll putter around, as is their wont. And probably fly off at sunset without so much as a fare ye well. Ungrateful cads.

A six point buck dropped by with three of his girlfriends Friday evening. We managed to get a few photos of the ladies. You’ll notice in the photos that their coats are a little shabby. The result of a change in garb from winter’s drab gray/brown to the rusty red of spring. Unfortunately, his royal buckness stayed well into the shadows of the woods and out of photo range. I guess he fancies himself the strong, silent type, Snob.

Some of the smaller and more elusive critters are busy too. Chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, moles and their ilk. The ilks spend most of their time in subterranean mode with the moles. Signs of a piscatorial awakening are becoming more evident. The grass carp carve more frequent grooves on the surface of the pond in search of meager windblown scraps. Bass, crayfish and minnows still lurk in the dark. Lurking is their norm. No peepers yet. But soon.

Chuck, the groundhog has been a bit scarce lately. Not having had the opportunity to check Chuck (he’s a bit sensitive about this) it’s occurred to us that Chuck may actually be Charlene. She/he could be nursing a new box of Chucklets (har) under the sun porch. Anyway, we run a non-sexist establishment here, so we’ll leave him/her to his/her chosen lifestyle. LGBT and Q are our middle initials.

Incidentally, the daffodils and forsythia are beginning to bloom. And we discovered some crocuses yesterday. Small explosions of forgotten color. Free joy.

“Spring is Nature’s way of saying ‘Let’s party!’”–Robin Williams