I did go to the park yesterday and even took a few pictures, but the rest of the day got away from me, and I never had time to send you a post. Then I went back again this morning, so now I have a lot of pictures to choose from, and there should be something for everyone.
We saw a ring-billed gull with a crayfish a couple of weeks ago, but here’s a herring gull with a real fish just above the falls.
We’ve seen plenty of great blue herons with fish, but here’s one without a fish and all puffed up, also just above the falls. Maybe the herring gull swiped its fish before I got there, and this is its annoyed look.
Here’s the osprey perched over the island right at the moment when it spotted me, and that probably is its annoyed look.
Here’s a red squirrel pausing from eating a maple tree seed, and doesn’t that look like contentment?
Here’s a cedar waxwing giving me grief with the lighting and looking a bit smug about it.
Here’s a song sparrow perched nicely at eye-level, right below the waxwing, but in much better light. “Thanks, Sweetie!”
The pair of nearly-grownup wood duck ducklings and their mom on the pond are really starting to act like they’re comfortable there, and if you behave and sit still….
they might let you take a closeup.
Back at the river, this is the tiniest toad I may have ever seen, and it could have sat neatly on my pinky nail. Watch where you step!
Finally, I’m starting to have some luck with the butterflies, and here’s a painted lady, close cousin of the American lady we saw back in April, sipping nectar from a bird’s-foot trefoil blossom beside the river.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 