Man, if this dreary weather pattern ever moves on, and blue skies ever return, I will never complain about them again! The weather this morning was actually better than the forecast I checked before going to bed last evening, and even though it was raining during breakfast, the radar suggested that we might get a gap in the rain for a couple of hours. Thankfully, the radar and my reading of it turned out to be accurate! I headed out right at 7:00, and the skies didn’t reopen until 9:15.
There was the usual great blue heron and a handful of wood ducks on the pond, so I moved on to the river. At the north end, a couple of kingfishers were flitting around the northern island and making a racket, but here’s one of them taking a break from the ruckus and perhaps contemplating its lot in life.
I counted another four great blue herons on the river, a single green heron, and the two great egrets that have been hanging around for a while now. Here’s one of the egrets about to grab a fish as a pair of mallards look on from a safe distance.
There was also one Canada goose, dozens of mallards, and as I attempted to count the mallards, I was pleasantly surprised to find two of these male northern pintail ducks in their eclipse plumage. Although his plumage is very similar to a hen’s, I can just make out the blue stripe down the side of his bill that she doesn’t have.
I watched a Cooper’s hawk chase a ring-billed gull up the river, but I didn’t realize there were two around until I could hear them talking later from nearby trees. Here’s the one that I could get eyes on, and if they are the same pair we saw on Saturday, then this is probably the female based on the yellow on her beak.
I only had time (and light) for those four pictures this morning, so here’s another look at the solitary sandpiper on the river Friday.
Here’s a bumblebee on a purple aster blossom beside the Oak Leaf Trail from Saturday afternoon.
Here’s the fiery skipper again, but this time also on a purple aster blossom.
And finally, here’s another clouded sulphur, but this time at Lake Front State Park on Sunday. How’s that for a green eye?
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 
