The weather this morning in Estabrook Park was far better than forecast. Last evening, it looked like it was going to be a washout, but I didn’t feel a drop all morning, and there were even patches of blue in the sky.
There was no sign of the falcon this morning, and I even checked both towers with my binoculars in case it was just taking a break from calling. Instead, a great blue heron was just off the island in the pond and too busy fishing to worry about li’l ol’ me.
Meanwhile, one of the wood duck hens was preening on a log between the island and the west lawn, and kept tabs on me.
At the north end, I glimpsed a beaver in the river only for a moment, and no one was working on their front porch, but this green heron did fly over to the island to fish. It’s a treat to see both herons in the same morning.
On one of the dead trees right beside the river below the falls, a dryad’s saddle mushroom was still in its “pig’s nose stage, when the flesh is very tender.” Yum, for those of you who indulge.
Farther south along the river, I spotted my first pair of damselflies getting started on their complex and precisely choreographed mating process. These two appear to be stream bluets.
On my way back to the pond for a second look, I was saddened to see this raccoon seem to be in distress, walk in a tight circle for a minute, and then lie down on the ground and stop moving. I suspect it was suffering from distemper. If you have a dog, make sure to keep its vaccinations current.
When I reached the pond, I found that this painted turtle had triumphantly taken over the log on which the wood duck had preened earlier in the morning.
I had missed the bluebirds on my first trip from the pond to the river, and I had a few extra minutes, so I hiked over again, and found this beauty.
I my way home, I stopped by the thistles beside the soccer fields, as usual, and found this stunning Halloween pennant dragonfly posing perfectly.
At the opposite end of the patch, this damselfly, possibly our first blue-fronted dancer (Argia apicalis), despite the orange hue, which marks it as a female, was also soaking up the sun breaking through the clouds.
The only butterfly I could find this morning was this red admiral, of whom we’ve already seen a lot this year, but it was doing such a nice job of sticking out its tongue for the camera, I couldn’t resist.
Finally, there were a pair of barn swallows flying just over the grass of the soccer fields, and the light was pretty good at the moment, so I tried again to get a decent picture of a swallow in flight. This is a little better than the cliff swallow a month ago, but still plenty of room for improvement.
Lastly, remember that WordPress includes only a lower resolution image in the email copy of each post it sends you. If you want a closer look at any of the pictures, you will get much better results if you click on the image, which should take you to the full image on Flickr, where you can zoom into the full resolution of the original. Sorry it’s so complicated, but them’s the tools I’m stuck with, for now.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 