A fine “Tot ziens!”

It was another fine morning in Estabrook park, a bit cloudy at first, but nice and sunny soon enough. Plus, the air was nice and still, so the bugs were up, and the birds were after them.

I had received two hot tips yesterday about recent mink sightings, so I hit those spots first, but the little stinkers have eluded me yet again, so I still have no new mink pictures for you. Instead, this little rascal, a young-looking red squirrel, was keeping two eyes on me as I searched in vain for the mink, so here you go.

I stopped by the pond, in hopes that maybe some ducklings would have arrived, now that the goslings have all moved on, but I didn’t see any yet. There were several wood ducks, however, and I thought it would be fitting to take a final wood duck picture, seeing as how that’s what set this whole thing off in the first place. The sun was shining by then, and I did get some nice poses from the drakes, but I like this candid moment between a hen and her drake better.

On my way to the river, I spotted this Canada warbler rustling up some breakfast.

And while we’re looking at warblers, here’s a blackburnian warbler from yesterday.

And a red-eyed vireo from yesterday.

Out on the river, I did see two sets of goslings but no ducklings today. Instead, here’s a green heron from this morning.

And another from yesterday.

The other big surprise from the river yesterday, besides all the ducklings, was this yellowlegs foraging with the sandpipers on the recently re-exposed rocks and gravel. I’ve only ever seen them once before and not nearly this close.

Here it is again being photobombed by a blue-winged teal drake. See if you can spot the culprit.

Here’s the teal all by himself in a better pose.

Finally, there’s one last surprise from yesterday, if you can believe it. As I was on my way home, with a huge smile on my face from the ducklings, the baby raccoons, etc., I could not believe my luck to spot this handsome devil out in the open in broad daylight and closer than I’ve ever been allowed before.

And, lest you think that’s a menacing look, and I was in grave danger, here’s what it did next, once I sat down.

This, I will sorely miss.

If I’m too panicked about preparing to ship out on Wednesday to visit Estabrook again tomorrow, I’ll drop you a line when I arrive “across the pond“.