The skies were clear as dawn broke this morning, but they soon clouded up again and even started to leak on me before I got back out of Estabrook Park. Oh well. At least there was no graupel, and this should make for some amazing May flowers, if the old saying carries any weight any more, right?
In any case, Mom and her goslings were snoozing on the west lawn again when I arrived at the pond.
Although some have taken off already, there were still a few blue-winged teals on the river at the north end.
On my way back south, I found a pair of eastern phoebes hunting from the bushes along the river path.
Back at the pond, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this female or immature male hooded merganser had flown in while I was away.
Finally, I’ve been hearing killdeer calling from across the river for weeks, but today is the first day I’ve ever been able to capture an image. With any luck, the river water will eventually subside enough to expose the sandbars that they like to forage on, and we can have some better looks.
Those are the sights for today, I’m afraid, but since I’ve got a little room left, let’s take another look at the peregrine falcon yesterday.
While we’re at it, here’s another look at the red-tailed hawk hunting squirrels or chipmunks on Tuesday.
Lastly, I’ve got one more good image of the belted kingfisher posing over the pond last Friday. This is before the last of the clouds blew away and the sky turned blue, so the lighting is quite a bit different.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 