Well, it was great while it lasted, but the beautiful weather has drifted east, and we were greeted by clouds and a breeze in Estabrook Park this morning.
As I made my way north along the path, I could hear a couple of chipmunks calling, but one sounded pretty close, so I took a look, and this is who I found.
At the pond, there were sixteen (16!) wood ducks today, but that wasn’t even the biggest surprise. Instead, the real shocker was a mink swimming straight across the middle of the pond, and here’s the best picture of the little rascal I could manage with the light I had. It is facing to the right, and you can just make out its little nose, one eye and one or two little ears.
At the river, there was a raptor in the raptor tree that we haven’t seen in a while, this red-tailed hawk.
Meanwhile, down on the water, there was a traffic jam as an egret strode through the line of mallards and geese dabbling upstream.
Back in the raptor tree, the red-tailed had moved on, and a merlin appeared to take its place. That tree has been worth every penny I put into it.
As I was just about to head back south, the sun broke through for a moment, so I ran back to the water to capture this egret posing against some autumn color. And then the sun was gone, just as suddenly as it had emerged.
As I was aiming up, white-throated sparrows in a small flock nearby were paying more attention to each other than to me, for a change, and that is often my best chance to sneak a portrait.
Farther south, I came across this grey squirrel right at eye level, and it really seemed like it didn’t want to budge, so I took its picture, too.
Finally, back at the south end, I couldn’t find our juvenile red-headed woodpecker, but this juvie yellow-bellied sapsucker did its best to fill in. “Thanks, Champ!”
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 