A five class morning!

After all the rain last night, it was still pretty cloudy this morning in Estabrook Park, but the air was nice and warm, and a lot of birds were up and about, although it took me a while to get any pictures. In the meantime, there were plenty of other, more-obliging critters taking advantage of the summer-like morning.

As I approached the north end, this chipmunk was sniffing a little tree up one side, …

and down the other, but I never did get to see what it was searching for. Maybe it is fresh out of the nest and just collecting experiences.

In the meadow, which once was a gravel parking lot by where the dam used to be, I found my second snake in the park ever, and it appears to be another DeKay’s brown snake, although this one is much darker than the first. By crazy coincidence, I also found my first snake skin in the grass right beside the brown snake, but the skin was from a much bigger serpent, perhaps a common garter.

At the other end of the meadow, there was another eastern question mark butterfly, and it turned out to be the only butterfly willing to hold still for the camera today, even if not in the most convenient location.

Out on the water, I finally spotted our first photo-worthy birds of the morning, this pair of great blue herons in the remaining big dead tree over the northern island.

The much bigger surprise, however, was hearing a brown thrasher overhead as I tried to take the heron picture. They are skittish birds, and I was only able to manage one other picture of a brown thrasher this spring, but man-oh-man, they are lovely singers.

On my way back to the pond, I came across this giant bullfrog parked in the outfield of the baseball diamond. By happy coincidence, my backup lens can focus on objects that are much closer than my main lens can, and this frog let me get that close, about two feet away, so if you click on the image and then zoom in, you can just make out my reflection in the frog’s pupil. I am the dark shape below and to the left of the bright spot, which is the reflection of the morning sun over my shoulder. Anyway, they were mowing the field, and the frog wasn’t moving, so I gave it a lift to the pond. It filled up my whole palm, and sat their placidly until we got close to the water, at which point it took off and did not want to be recaught

At the pond, the mallards were in their usual spot on the west lawn.

Meanwhile, the wood ducks were up on a log in the northeast bay and holding steady at four ducklings. You can just see the eye of the fourth one peeking out from behind the head of the one closest to Mom.

Finally, on the path back down to the river from the pond, I found this deer again, and she seemed pretty relaxed about the encounter, …

but she did eventually mosey into the brush to let me go past. “Thanks, Sweetie!”

So I got to see representatives from Mammalia, Aves, Reptilia, Amphibia, and Insecta, all just this morning. Woo Hoo!