Still some unexpected sights…

The nice weather was back in Estabrook Park, at least for this morning, and now that the holiday weekend is over. On my way to the park, I hadn’t even jaywalked across Wilson Dr yet when I spotted this wild turkey dutifully using the crosswalk to go looking for breakfast in the suburbs.

There was a surprise visitor at the pond when I walked up, and you can just make out its big bushy tail in the middle of this image below. I of course hustled around to the other side for a better look, but all I got was one glimpse before it quickly ambled into the thick brush along the shore.

Once I realized I was not going to get a nice raccoon portrait today, I turned around and found the mallard hen and her duckling foraging at the water’s edge right behind me.

At the river, the common merganser drake, who has made himself scarce for the past couple of days, was back in his usual spot in the water around the northern island and looking as healthy as ever.

The brush along the riverbank has grown up and leafed out enough that I can’t really check for swallows at the bridge without hiking up there, so I hit the trail and was pleasantly surprised to find one of the many red-eyed vireos, which usually are singing from the treetops, down at eye level for a change.

When I got to the Port Washington Road bridge, I was thrilled to finally see the pair of barn swallows at their nest. The lighting is quite poor, and I still don’t have my good lens, but it sure looks like the one perched on the nest is feeding a youngster. Yay!

There were no raptors over the island today, so I headed back to the pond, where I found the wood duck hen and her five remaining ducklings in a more photogenic location than earlier.

As I sat on the bench on the west lawn, the mallard duckling hopped up on shore and strutted right across the lawn right between me and four sleeping drakes. Mom was not pleased and hustled after it until it was back in the water.

I haven’t seen much of the nuthatches in a while, but this one paused from foraging for a second to give me a look I couldn’t resist.

Finally, I saw another monarch relentlessly searching for something, either a blossom with nectar to sip or a milkweed on which to lay eggs, and it never stopped until it was out of sight. Instead, this eastern question mark paused to bask in the sun and let me take this picture.