The forecast for this morning in Estabrook was wet, and the heavy clouds did come on schedule, but the precipitation delivery was delayed, so I had a little time to sneak into the park to see who was around.
As luck would have it, this was the day that I was able to get a not-bad-portrait of our very first adult male blackpoll warbler (Setophaga striata) in his finest “goin’ courtin’” plumage.
There were plenty of other birds out and about, too, but the lighting was terrible, we’ve seen most of them before, and I had to cut my walk short anyway. Happily, yesterday was so fruitful that I’ve still got plenty more pictures to show you. At the north end, where I found the chestnut-sided, Cape May, and bay-breasted warblers, there were also a few black-and-white warblers, with similarly-colored, but differently-patterned plumage, and here’s one looking high and low for its next bite.
Here’s a male magnolia warbler foraging while he warbles, and …
here’s another look at the male chestnut-sided warbler.
They weren’t all dudes, either. Here’s a female Cape May warbler, and…
a female American redstart.
They weren’t even all warblers. Here’s a Philadelphia vireo (Vireo philadelphicus), with a nice yellow throat, similar to the yellow-throated vireo we just saw, but with a grey cap and a dainty, warbler-like beak.
Finally, the indigo bunting who posed so nicely yesterday was even willing to give us a couple angles to choose from.
The wood pewee who first arrived on Sunday, also gave us a couple of nice poses.
Lastly, the little red squirrel from yesterday seemed quite fascinated by me, and gave me a real good looking over.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 