Nuthin’ but Birds.

The weather was a bit unsettled this morning in Estabrook Park. First it rained, hard, which I waited out over breakfast, then the sun came out for a bit, and then it clouded back up. Oh well.

I saw the hooded merganser again, but it was in the same spot as before, so its picture would have looked the same as it did yesterday. Instead, the surprise at the river was this wood duck hen with four ducklings. Sure, you can only see two or maybe three in this image, but I like how they are nice and close together. Perhaps they started as the seven we saw on the first.

I didn’t see anyone notable again until the far north end. The cedar waxwings that like to hunt for bugs there seem to have gotten used to me coming by to check on the swallows because today they granted me this beautiful sight. I’ve known that they have a bright yellow tip on their tail, but I can’t remember seeing a bright red mark on their wings before.

On my way back south, I did see a great blue heron again, but no turtles or owls, and I thought the most interesting sight today was this spotted sandpiper on the far shore just below the falls. In previous years, when the river water was much lower, I’d be seeing them and killdeer on exposed parts of the river bottom, but this year the high water is making it a bit more of a trick to spot them.

I had barely taken the sandpiper picture when this mallard hen and her four ducklings steamed past.

At the top of the bluff, by the beer garden, I’ve been hearing a house wren for weeks, and this morning he was perched in a nice-enough spot, so here he is. Boy, he really throws his entire body into is song, doesn’t he?

Back at the pond, I was keeping off the bench to avoid forcing the mallards resting on the lawn into the water, so it was a pleasant surprise when the four wood ducks I’ve been seeing lately, three hens and the one remaining duckling from the first batches, all swam right over. First, I seldomly see them all together like this, and second, the duckling and its mom, the two hanging back, tend to be shyer than this.

Well, one of the hens has become quite bold, hopped up onto the lawn, and even shoed away a mallard or two as she strode around the lawn looking for treats. She eventually got quite close to me, even crossing the path to check behind me, as I just stood still, and here she is wondering where in heck is the food I brought her. As I’ve told them before, “sorry, Sweety, that’s some other old guy, not me.”

Anyway, a second hen joined her, though not quite as bold, and the mom and duckling seemed to loose their nerve a bit and drifted away from shore.

Anyway, I eventually had to move on, and I was a little disappointed to find no pretty butterflies or dragonflies today. Instead, here’s one of the goldfinches are starting to tear into the thistle blossoms that have already gone to seed.