I’m just headed down the street to Colonel Sam Smith Park. I feel so fortunate to live a 5 minute walk away from this treasure.

The tree swallows are all over the many nest boxes in the park.

There is a grey and white cat who I’ve seen a few times at the park. He’s got quite the playground. Last time I saw this cat, it was climbing around a tree near the pond, showing off for passers-by. Today it was snake-hunting.

Each spring, the male red-winged blackbirds return to our area weeks ahead of the females, who have now also arrived.

In between fits of laughter, the red-necked grebes are busy with construction activities. I’m not sure who is responsible for it, but for years now, nesting platforms have been provided for the grebes. Nesting is often successful, though I have seen cormorants bully the grebes away from the platforms.

I watched some brown-headed cowbirds walk about on the rocks for a while. It was hard to tell what they were trying to accomplish, but whatever it was, they were busy at it.

There were lots of mergansers around today. I don’t usually see the red-breasted mergansers on shore, but caught this one returning to the water.

The rock-stackers have been busy.

I saw a couple people with cameras watching something intently from the viewing platform at the pond. I followed their gaze and saw several black-crowned night herons up in a tree.

After I watched for a while, I got to see a couple of them take flight.