What a nice morning we had in Estabrook today. The sky wasn’t perfectly clear, but the air was cool and still, and road traffic was light, so it was easy to forget that I was in an urban park for the couple of hours after sunrise.
My first treat for the morning was catching this cutie as it swam across the reflection of the early morning sun off the red brick building that supports the radio tower above the far riverbank. With a “hairdo” like that, you know its gotta be the hooded merganser that’s been with us for a couple of days now.
My second treat was laying eyes on this peregrine falcon enjoying its breakfast on a cross brace of the radio tower mentioned above. I’d been hearing it call for a few minutes as I approached the river, and I was holding my breath that I might catch a glimpse of it before it took off. Sometimes dreams do come true.
At the pond, another bird we love to see, this green heron, also tipped me off with its call.
Back at the river, at least one beaver emerged from the shadows, even if only for a minute.
Meanwhile, on our shore, in the meadow across from the northern island, a dew-bejeweled black swallowtail, our first of the season, held tight and waited for the day to dry it off. (That’s one image worth zooming in on, if I say so myself, and you are so inclined.)
On my way back south along the river, the house wren we saw yesterday seemed disappointed with the picture I took. The sky was grey, I wasn’t very close, and the hunch-backed look isn’t very flattering. Thus, here we are much closer with a nice blue sky and a much less extreme pose.
At the pollinator garden, some bee balm is beginning to open, but I haven’t seen any clearwings yet. Instead, here’s a brand new damselfly for us, a seemingly oxymoronically-named orange bluet (Enallagma signatum), which the Pedia of Wik helpfully explains “stands out from many other bluets because of its orange color.” As before, it seems to prefer sunning on the sun-block mat.
At the thistle patch beside the soccer fields, I managed to sneak one more monarch picture.
Finally, the goldfinches continue to enjoy the thistles that have gone to seed, and here’s a female digging into a bull or musk thistle blossom.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 