It was quite dark and foggy this morning, so I took my sweet time with breakfast and the paper and strolled out the door around 7:30, and I was greeted by this tender scene when I arrived at the pond. As far as I can tell, that is one wood duck drake, pretty far into eclipse but still sporting his multi-hued bill, preening the feathers on the head of another wood duck drake. I’ve certainly seen wood duck hens exhibit this behavior before, but this might be the first time I’ve seen it among drakes.
As I turned around to head toward the river, look whom I found had been keeping an eye on me.
All the rain yesterday has raised the river a bit, and there was no heron in the usual spot below the falls, but there was one over on the far shore instead.
At the north end, I found yet another fresh-looking hatch of mallard ducklings, and this one is another batch of eight.
Meanwhile, the batch of eleven was steaming in close formation just a little farther from shore.
I couldn’t believe my luck when the hen with eleven headed over to the hen with eight.
I did not expect, however, that the mission was to enforce some sort of pecking order.
Things got a little splish-splashy for a moment.
But once the task was done, everything seemed to return to normal, and here you can see all twenty-one ducks.
Finally, as if all that action was not enough, it all occurred under the watchful eyes of the osprey who has been hanging around for a while. It’s been almost three weeks now. Maybe we’ll get lucky, and it will decide to stick around for the summer. A guy can dream, right?
Lastly, here is an indigo bunting that wasn’t perched high above me for a change.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 
The leaves and reflexion from the water make a really cool frame around the wood ducks!
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Re the wood duck preening: It’s Gay Pride month, so why not in Estabrook?
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