The weather was just perfect in Estabrook Park again this morning. The skies were so clear that there was already enough light a full 20 minutes before sunrise for me to head out, and I was treated to the waning moon high in the west and still looking pretty close to full, plus Jupiter just below it, and Venus high in the east. Sweet!
My next treat was spotting a red-headed woodpecker high above the northwest corner of the soccer fields, a juvenile who hasn’t yet gotten its red head feathers, and only the second one that I’ve ever managed to photograph in the park. I sure do hope it likes what it sees and helps the species expand its range southward to include Estabrook. Wouldn’t that be great?
At the pond, a male belted kingfisher arrived with a great flourish by swooping down over the trees to right above the water, circling the island at full speed, and continuously shouting at the top of his lungs, “I’m here!” before taking a perch over the water. I find it curious that such a shy bird when perched would also be such a showoff when flying.
At the river, there were two raptors again in the raptor tree over the northern island, …
And this time the one in the lower right is a Cooper’s hawk, probably one of the pair that we’ve been seeing pretty regularly lately, and the one in the upper left is a peregrine falcon sporting a bit of jewelry. I had heard a falcon calling from the TV tower in the southeast corner of the park, but I couldn’t spot it, so I was thrilled to have this second chance.
Out on the water, a pied-billed grebe was swimming amongst the mallards and soon came up with a nice big fish.
Here it is again and giving us a better look at that fish. Nice!
At the far north end, almost under the Port Washington Road bridge, a pair of great blue herons appeared to be courting.
At least one egret is still around, and here it is nearly glowing in the sun along with a handful of winged insects that are still emerging from the river.
There are also still some warblers coming through, looking for those insects, and here’s a yellow-rumped flashing its ID badge.
There was even a spotted sandpiper still on the river.
Finally, back at the southeast corner, a group of starlings was flitting about, and here’s an immature one glistening in the sun.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 
The egret pic is awesome. All those while feathers ‘aglow’ in the low morning light. Simply BEAUTIFUL!
LikeLiked by 1 person