Success at last!

It was a nice enough morning in Estabrook, if a little humid at 87%, but not too warm, no rain for a change, a little bit of sun, and even some patches of blue sky. The critters, however, were not as cooperative as they’ve been lately, and perhaps it was all my gushing about the “amazing” turkey yesterday, but I barely saw a rabbit this morning, let alone a raccoon, a beaver, or even a deer.

The ducklings on the pond, at least, were unphased and up to their usual activities. Four were on break.

And the fifth was still on the hunt. As I tried to get a pretty picture, look what it caught. Yup, more crayfish. It took a little wrasslin’, but it eventually went down the pipe, and all in one piece.

As I was about to bid the pond adieu, this sweet little downy woodpecker stopped by to see me off.

If you’ve been near the pond lately, or maybe even a location near you, for that matter, I’m sure you’ve noticed a super sweet aroma in the air recently, and I think I’ve located the culprit: linden tree blossoms (or basswood in North America, supposedly). On a still day, wow that stuff gets thick.

I was told once upon a time, and just have confirmed on the interwebs, that in Ukraine, the month of July is named for these trees because “the smell of [linden tree] in the middle of the summer is everywhere.“

Anyway, I did eventually make it to the river, and the only action today, besides a trio of green herons that successfully evaded me several times, is our old buddy, the blue heron fishing at the falls. On my way north, it was actually taking a break to preen a bit in the morning sun on a downed tree just above the falls.

On my way back south, however, it was back to work, and this time, I finally got to see it catch something.

So maybe it does know what it’s doing.

After all that excitement, I took one more swing by the pond, just in case, and I’d have nothing new to show for it if it weren’t for a visit by this cute little catbird getting ready to sing his 10-minute song.