The river was up nearly a foot, and things were plenty wet, but those are about all the indications of the heavy storms that rolled through yesterday afternoon. The sun was shining this morning, and the breeze was light, so it was a very nice start to the holiday weekend in Estabrook Park.
Better yet, the mallard hen and her duckling were back in their usual spot on the pond, yay, and the little one is now quite noticeably bigger than it was just two weeks ago.
Best of all, the wood duck hen with her seven ducklings was also back. Hurray! I wonder why and where they were all hiding yesterday.
Even a kingfisher was back, and I couldn’t tell which one this is, but here it is racing off with a fresh catch after some red-winged blackbirds took exception.
The bluebirds were back, too, but they were trying to dry off, so didn’t want any pictures today. I didn’t see anything to show you at the north end, either, so I went back to the pond and found the wood ducks all in a row.
Finally, as I cut across the baseball field, I found a pair of killdeer on the flooded infield, which might be the closest thing to an exposed sandbar that they could find today, now that everything on the river is submerged again.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 