The first third of April ended with a turkey trying to figure out a strange-looking person with a camera.
This early spring was unusually warm, but on April Fool’s Day we had a bit of snow. You can see bird tracks on our deck and the snow falling on a crow.
On April 2, I found a pair of Hooded Mergansers in a small pond in Etna.
Sap buckets were out in Lebanon. I wonder how much this old tree still produces.
I found a pair of wood frogs dead in our yard. It appeared they might have died while mating. I sent this photo to Mary Holland, and she replied, “I guess the wood frogs died in the throes of reproducing, as that’s a male on top and a female on the bottom, and they are in amplexus, or their mating positions…at least they died happy! ? “
In contrast to previous years, I found relatively few ducks along the Connecticut River north of Hanover. On April 4, I did spot some Wood Ducks swimming with a Mallard in the mouth of Grant Brook.
After a relatively unsuccessful loop through Orford, I was able to capture a quick photo of a red fox in Fairlee.
In Thetford, I stopped at Long Wind Farm to buy a box of tomatoes. I found the sun behind a stack an interesting composition.
I saw a female Hooded Merganser pretending she was a loon in the Ompompanoosuc River in Norwich.
In the Lewiston area of Norwich, a Hooded Merganser had grabbed a crayfish from the bottom of the Connecticut River.
On the other side of River Road, a Crow was picking at a dirty snowbank.
On April 7, I photographed a Wood Duck in Grant Brook. There were few ducks around.
I decided to head farther north and visit Bedell Bridge State Park. This can be a great area for birds. However, I found almost no ducks and few other species. The water level seemed unusually low for spring in the wetlands.
Searching for something to photograph, I decided on a burr cucumber.
I did find a Common Grackle with an insect.
Heading back south, I saw this farm in Piermont.
Frustrated by how few times I had tripped my camera’s shutter this morning, I stopped at the Waits River Falls in Bradford to photograph some moving water.
That afternoon, on a walk with Jann along the rail trail near Ice House Road in Lebanon, we found a pair of Green-winged Teal.
After seeing the wonderful Wood Duck photos my friend Marc took and not having much luck along the Connecticut River, I decided to head to Esther Currie WMA in New London. This can be a wonderful place for wildlife.
I arrived quite early and was sitting on the shore photographing some Buffleheads in the distance when there was a huge splash to my left about 2 yards away. I figured somebody had either thrown a very large boulder or a beaver had just slapped its tail. Fortunately it turned out to be a beaver. I was able to take quite a few photos as is swam by in the calm water with nice reflections.
Here are some of the Buffleheads far out on the aptly-named Beaver Pond.
A pair of Wood Ducks were sitting high up in dead trees near the overlook at the northwest end of the pond.
There was a very colorful group in the pond.
A pair of Wood Ducks were checking out a possible site for starting another family.
Here are a few more photos from Esther Currie.
If you would like to see more Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers from this visit to Esther Currie you can CLICK HERE.
Drifting home, I stopped at a wetland in Wilmot.
There I found a Hooded Merganser.
Near home, a last stop at Ice House Road yielded a photo of one of the many painted turtles basking in the sun there.
That afternoon, Jann and I hiked. I had to stop on the way home when I saw these beautiful clouds.
On April 10, I tried for a sunrise on Lake Mascoma but nothing much materialized. When I found these old buildings in Enfield, the sky was getting a bit of color in the southwest.
I knew there are sometimes ducks and loons at the Harris Brook Scenic Area, so I headed there.
I walked around the pond, which is the old Enfield Reservoir and is actually located in Canaan. I saw only two Mallards and a Common Merganser but did not take any photos of them.
I did photograph some moving water along Harris Brook just upstream of the pond. I was not carrying a tripod so I set my camera on the ground and used the self-timer.
On a walk with Jann that afternoon I photographed a Red-tailed Hawk soaring over the fields.
Rilla, looking down from our bedroom loft, bids you a happy spring .
