A quick visit before the fog rolled in.

The day started off pretty nice in Estabrook, with plenty of humidity, but not much heat yet, and even a bit of sun. The pond was pretty quiet when I arrived, but there were still a couple of ducks on the water, and I soon found both the night-heron and a green heron in the northwest corner, which gave me a hope of getting some close-ups

We first saw the night-heron on August 12th, which makes this day 14, and it looks as healthy as when it arrived, so it must be finding enough to eat despite the fact that I have yet to spot it fishing. The blue and green herons, on the other hand, seem to be constantly fishing. Different styles, I guess.

Then, as I started to make my way around the north end of the pond to check on the east side, all heck broke loose. The herons took off, a wood duck quietly slipped off a log into the water, and a kingfisher started circling the island sounding its distinctive alarm. Luckily, the instigator of all this agitation wasn’t me for a change. Instead, it was a Cooper’s hawk swooping over the pond, and it stopped in one of the tall ash trees at the south end so I could make this record of the event.

I tried to get a bit closer, but by the time I could see into that tree again, it had already moved on.

By then, it looked as though a fog bank was rolling in off the lake, so I thanked my lucky stars that I got to see anything at all and headed home.

Here’s one more portrait of the night heron while it’s still here.