They’re here…

Holy moly! The spigot has opened, and Estabrook Park is awash in new arrivals. Happily for them, the air was also full of flying insects this morning, and it felt like I was trailing a column of smoke as I walked across the soccer fields.

Let’s start at the pond, where there were two green herons for the first time this year, and they were hungry for some fish. “Welcome back, you grumpy-looking little gnomes!”

There were white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys) by the dozen along with, but not to be confused with, nearly as many white-throated sparrows. In spots, it was as though they were poured out of a hose.

Higher up, there were palm warblers, whom we have glimpsed already, but who have evaded a portrait, until now.

Here’s our first Nashville warbler (Leiothlypis ruficapilla) of the season.

Here’s another black-throated green warbler, posing for us in better light and against a nice blue sky this time.

Here’s our first Blackburnian warbler (Setophaga fusca) of the season doing the same.

The black-and-white warbler (Mniotilta varia) was not quite so accommodating, but we’ll take what we can get, right?

There was even a vireo already, this darling blue-headed vireo (Vireo solitarius) busily hunting for bugs.

Finally, while not new arrivals, the blue jays, who are normally very shy, have been very noisy lately, and this one must have been distracted enough by other activity that I was at long last able to sneak a portrait.

Lastly, as if all that wasn’t enough, here’s a new butterfly for the season: a question mark (Polygonia interrogationis). Seriously, that’s the name, and it is close cousin to the eastern comma butterfly we just saw during the heatwave last month.