STJPhoto

Baby Swans. Swans hatching from their eggs is the glorious end to the long drawn out vigil that the female swan has endured for over a month. Severely weakened and in need of food, the pen (and cob) will spend just a couple of days at the nest with her hatchlings, before their great life adventure starts.

Pen & Cygnets

first Turtle sighting of 24.

Home is wherever you are, said Turtle.
How near or how far you will never arrive where home waits or lies.
You’ve never left home to go anywhere you were not.
So here you are home, where you stand, where you ran.
When you got there what did you find in the place that is new?
The same face in the reflection of the reflector.
All who you meet an image of yourself to greet for the first time.
If you can see you in the new, in the magic that is you.
You will be home there too, as you were when you left to escape.
Your home you’ve never left.
Turtle screamed in the forest to anyone who would hear.
Stop running.
Home is wherever you are, said turtle.

MSJ 4/8/24

Common Merganser Female

Common Mergansers spend the breeding season in northern forested habitats near large lakes and rivers. Since they nest in cavities of large trees, breeding Common Mergansers are usually found in mature forests. They spend winters on large lakes, rivers, and reservoirs in the southern and coastal regions of their breeding range, and in additional wintering grounds across the northern and western United States. They tend to prefer freshwater wintering habitat over saltwater, but they may winter in coastal bays, estuaries, and harbors.

Landscape shot; no wildlife in this one that I know of.
Everything is so still after the snow, they are some of my favorite moments to find happening, when no one else is seeing it.