Playtime before raintime…

It was another beautiful morning in Estabrook Park, perhaps the last one for a while, and the deer appeared to be especially frisky. There were just the four regulars today, and the youngsters were running and playing like puppies. They even provoked Mom at one point. The teenager seemed especially fascinated by the sensation of running across the soft sand in the volleyball court.

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Ducks were on the river, and the group comprising one mallard and some wood ducks that we saw in the pond recently seem to be still sticking together. If it’s not the same group, then perhaps it’s a common inter-species arrangement.

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The beaver continue to work on felling that huge cottonwood tree further north along the river trail. You can see that they are really starting to make a dent on the east side and are through the layer of very light-colored wood and back into some darker stuff in a couple of spots. The pile of chips around the base of the tree is getting bigger every day.

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The goldfinches, this time a female, are still working on those bull thistle seeds.

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And new blossoms continue to appear. Here’s a pretty little yellow flower just coming into bloom on the mudflats, and it turns out to be another beggarticks, this time nodding beggarticks or nodding bur-marigold (Bidens cernua)

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Finally, it appears that another aster is coming into bloom, mostly along the river, and there are a lot to choose from, but I’m going to go with Awl Aster (Symphyotrichum pilosum).

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The forecast looks pretty soggy for tomorrow, so here’s hoping there’s a break in the rain at some point. I can’t wait to see how far the beavers get this time.