Just when you think there’s nothing new to see…

I did visit Estabrook yesterday afternoon, but I didn’t get a lot of pictures, and I got home late, so I figured I just wait and include them in today’s post. This morning, I waited out the clouds and brief shower, so the sun was shining, and the sky was blue by the time I arrived.

In any case, I haven’t seen wood ducks on the river in a while, but I counted twelve on the pond yesterday and again today. The two remaining original ducklings are grown enough that it is not easy to single them out, but the four remaining from the second batch still look like ducklings and stick together, so they are pretty easy to spot. Here they are settling in for their late afternoon nap.

Meanwhile, herons are pretty easy to find on the river these days, and here’s a great blue, …

a green, …

and our surprise visitor, who was there yesterday and again this morning, the great egret.

It seems the fish are plentiful enough, if small.

But big enough to get excited about anyway, it would appear.

The Charadriiformes, specifically the waders, or shorebirds, depending upon which side of the pond you are on, also continue to be abundant. Here’s one of the many killdeer, and perhaps a young one based upon its apparent obliviousness to my proximity.

Here’s a spotted sandpiper, another youngster who has not yet grown its spots.

At first, I thought this was another sandpiper, perhaps a young solitary sandpiper, but no. Now that I can get a good look at it, I am thrilled to report that it is a “yellowlegs”, and of the two varieties, I’m gonna go with “greater” (Tringa melanoleuca). I’ve only seen them twice before, in May 2021, and then again in May 2022. The first time they were too far away to identify clearly, and the second time I went with “lesser,” so if the experts at ebird.org agree, this will be a completely new bird for me. “Woo Hoo, and welcome to Estabrook either way, Sweetie!”

Update: the experts at ebird.org did not agree and explained “the documentation … provided shows a Lesser Yellowlegs. The bill is straight and not very long. Just about as long as the depth of the head. Greater would be at least 1.5 times the depth of the head and slightly upturned”

Finally, while I was looking for butterflies on the blossoming thistles at the south end, I spotted these two monarchs doing their best to make more.

Lastly, someone was kind enough to leave me a fresh park beer by the falls, so thanks for that! It’s chilling in my fridge right now.