Nature notes from Jeziorki

The shift from winter to spring is rapid. After the heatwave of early April (+23C on the 8th), some welcome rain this morning, and nature is in full advance. It's strange having hot days with no leaves on the trees, but now leaves are appearing everywhere as are flowers. By the afternoon the rain had ceased, the sky has cleared, a good time for photographing Jeziorki's wildlife.

Above: A young male marsh harrier (błotnik stawowy) over the reedbeds at the end of ul. Trombity.

Above: the female mute swan that's also at home in the marshes and reedbeds between ul. Trombity, ul. Dumki and ul. Kórnicka. She's standing on one leg, wingtips in the water.

Above: A big thanks to Adam for identifying this small bird as a Yellow Wagtail (pliszka żółta). It was resting on a newly-ploughed field on ul. Trombity.

Above: A year-round Jeziorki resident that's more visible at this time of year is the pheasant. The trumpety mating call of the male is a commonly heard sound around these parts. Photograph taken from our garden.

Right: A skylark over the field behind our house. The skies above Jeziorki are full of the song of male skylarks competing for mates. The ones that sing loudest from highest altitude prove themselves to be the fittest biologically. Often they are so high that although their song is clearly audible from the ground, they are invisible - or at least very hard to spot. Note the breadth of this skylark's torso, which indicates a fine pair of lungs.

Left: Not a moorhen (which has a red face) but a coot, slightly larger and with a white forehead. Coots live in the pond on ul. Pozytywki and in the reedbeds at the end of ul. Jeziorki.

Shyest of all the waterfowl, the coots keep well away from paths used by people.

Below: Eye to eye with a swan. Semi-domesticated, the swans are trusting of humans and will wander up close in the hope that some food will be on hand. The swans are moulting and, according to the RSPCA, need feeding up at this time of year.

This time last year:
Modernist wheels - mod scooter in Warsaw

This time two years ago:
Amazing photos of mammatus clouds over Jeziorki
Apple blossom time 2007
Maps of the area