April 2

Saturday was a good day at Forest Hill for a hike with my dog, Remi.  The mid morning weather was partly sunny, hazy with a temperature of 37 degrees and a light wind out of the northwest.  Before descending the hill toward Mallard Marsh, I looked to the west and noticed that despite it being April, a thin layer of snow covered about half of the landscape. Walking through Bobolink Meadow, I recalled how the hard, crusty snow earlier in the week had made the animal tracks very distinctive. It was easy to tell the difference between pheasant tracks, geese tracks and crane tracks. Also, I was able to key out the tracks of the Least Weasel, the Robin and the Bobwhite Quail. I turned at the entrance to North Woods and followed the trail toward Willow Wallow. At Willow Wallow, I observed a pair of Mallards taking off and heading east. As I started around Succession Field, I noticed a dead ground mole lying dead on the trail, frozen and undisturbed. I continued around Succession Field where I was entertained by bird calls coming from all directions including: Cardinal, Crow, Redwing Blackbird, Song Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Red Bellied Woodpecker, Chickadee, Canadian Goose and Blue Jay. I came to Artist Overlook where I saw 3 geese landing on Sora Swale. From previous hikes, I had observed that 2 pair of geese had established this place as their nesting ground. As I continued walking, I wondered if something had happened to the forth member of the group. Further down the path, I was pleased to see the 4th goose land on the pond to rejoin its mate. I continued down the south trail where it felt good to walk on bare ground again since much of the snow had melted. I turned at Frog Fen and climbed to the top of Reflection Hill where I observed 3 pair of geese swimming on Grebe Pond. I suspected they had now established this place as their nesting area. I recalled how a few days ago I saw a pair of Hooded Mergansers swimming on the pond. The male had a black head with a large white ear patch while the female had a brown-crested head and a gray body. These diving ducks were much smaller than the Common Mergansers that showed up last week. I walked down Reflection Hill and came to the Classroom Building where I noticed several houseflies buzzing around on the east side. Another hike was finished so I got in the car and took off down the driveway where I saw a pair of Killdeers hopping around the front yard. I turned south and headed for home.

The roofs are shining from the rain,

The sparrows twitter as they fly,

And with a windy April grace


The little clouds go by.

Yet the back yards are bare and brown


With only one unchanging tree--


I could not be so sure of Spring


Save that it sings in me.

Sara Teasdale,