Spring is definitely here, even though the weather hasn't quite realized it yet. I know because the Canada Geese have been parading out their new prides & joys.

I dropped by James Taylor Park for about an hour or so on Thursday. Naturally, I was rushing off somewhere else and didn't have as much time as I would have prefered. There was the usual variety at the park, the mallards, the Canada geese, and the last few ring-billed gulls who haven't figured out yet that winter is over.

I was pleased to see a Forster's Tern there. It's the first time I've ever seen one and I had to look it up in the book. I managed to get a couple of pictures, numbers 6 & 7 below. Their normal range is in Canada and the Rockies and they winter in Florida. This guy was just passing through.

The highlight, of course, was the goose babies, pictures 1-4. There were several different broods on the river. They all swam in the same formation (#4). An adult in front, I'm assuming Ma, followed by the kids, and another adult bringing up the rear. Must be Pa.

It was a very productive visit for me. Along with the Forster's Tern, I was able to get a picture of an Eastern Kingbird (#5). That's the first picture I've been able to get of one. Photo 8 is a common grackle and photo 10 is a spotted sandpiper. The sandpiper was another one I had to look up in the book.

I was lucky to get a picture of the sandpiper. It mostly just ran back and forth along the edge of the river, and it ran very fast. In the time it would take me to bring the camera up, it'd run off again.

Don't know if it was a male or female. The book doesn't mention any differences between the two. It does say that the spotted sandpiper is polyandrous. The female has two or more mates. She mates with Boy #1, lays a clutch of eggs for him, then runs off with Boy #2.

Photo #9 is one of my favorite birds, the killdeer. I don't know why, but killdeers always make me think of a little professor. Must be the stripes. He always looks like he's wearing a turtleneck and one of those jackets with the patches on the sleeves. They are very smart birds. If a predator comes too close to the nest, the mother flops around like she has a broken wing and distracts the predator from the young uns. She flops further and further away, until she feels she's drawn the predator a safe distance, then flies off, probably laughing and giggling the whole time.

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