It appears that our recent run of beautiful weather has finally ended, and today we have gray skies and a bit of a breeze, but at least the temps aren’t too cold yet.
Things were pretty quiet in Estabrook Park this morning, and I didn’t see much until I got to the pond, where I found our hoodie and woodie just hanging out together like old pals. There were also three mallards dabbling around, and then the six Canada geese dropped in to make a full house of it.
The fun sight, however, at least for me, was this muskrat at the far water’s edge munching away on something.
At the river, I was surprised to find the osprey only a dozen yards or so upstream from the falls, above the far shore, and nearly at eye level.
The owl was out, and the gadwalls have moved on, I’m sorry to say, and so there was almost nothing to see at the far north end. Instead, on my way back south I took yet another picture of the great blue heron fishing at the falls.
Back at the pond, I could hardly believe all the mourning doves I found foraging on the path. I counted fifteen, and these are the seven kind enough to squeeze together for a picture.
As I was trying to line up as many doves as I could, this male downy woodpecker flew right over my head and perched in this tree behind me for just a moment, perhaps until it realized how close to me it ended up. “Gotta pay attention, little buddy.”
And that’s it for Estabrook Park today, so since I have the time and we’ve got the space, here are a couple more pictures from Saturday in Lincoln Park. First, when the red-tailed hawk took off, it glided right over the two eagles, as if to say, “you may be big, but you don’t scare me.”
Finally, here’s one more look at that slightly-off-track Ross’s goose.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 