One more new face.

The line of thunderstorms forecast to roll through this morning got delayed a bit, perhaps in Chicago traffic, and I had some time to sneak into Estabrook Park. The skies were pretty dark, but I found some subjects willing to sit still for 1/125 of a second.

The first one is this pretty green heron hunting on the pond.

As I watched, it appears to have found this fish on that log, gave it a few tastes, and eventually opted to leave it for a gull and move on.

Our old buddy, the common merganser drake with a wing that doesn’t look quite right, was on the river north of the northern island. So, it appears he can still swim and hunt just fine, but he’s now stuck with us, poor guy. “Hang in there, Buddy! Your pals will return with the winter.”

I continued north from there because the trees atop the bluff were providing nice shelter from the breeze, and I could hear birds a-chirpin’. It didn’t take long to find another rose-breasted grosbeak.

Better yet, he had a lady-friend with him. This is the first time I’ve managed to catch a male and female together like this.

There was more chirping ahead, so I pressed on, and I soon found this little devil that has been eluding me for the past four years. Give a warm Estabrook welcome to our first orange-crowned warbler (Leiothlypis celata).

Finally, at the far, far north end, just before the trail passes under the bridges, a spotted sandpiper alerted me to its proximity with its signature call.

With the threat of rain, I was afraid I’d come up short on images, so here are a few of the flowers in bloom now. Plus, they mostly stay still for me.

First up, there are a couple nice patches of white trillium on the sides of the ravine north of the beer garden.