Critter Chronicles: A Cacophony of Birds

Have you ever noticed how noisy birds are? Usually around sunrise is peak noise time, when all the songbirds are greeting the day and reminding everyone that they're here. It's died down a little bit over the past couple of weeks -- I guess everyone's got their territories staked out and mates safely in the fold, but there's still the dawn chorus.

Of course, sparrows are always chattering and squabbling, but we've got robins, cardinals, the occasional gull screaming (I'm less than a mile from the lake shore), and even every once in a while a skein of geese on their way to somewhere.

Speaking of, yesterday I saw the season's first clutch of goslings out in the park busily grazing with their parents. They can't be more than a few days old -- they're still pretty small. And I"m trying to figure out where the parents found to build a nest -- the reeds are just sprouting, and there's not much in the way of cover anywhere near where they were feeding. I keep thinking it's early yet for goslings and ducklings, but looking at the calendar, I realize it's that time of year -- they do tend to nest early.

(Side note: Also yesterday was my first sighting of a frog for a long time. It was just sitting on a branch poking out of the water, maybe waiting for a bug to fly by. Or not.)