Plenty to see even after a late start…

The forecast rain never came this morning, but sheesh, it was dark! The street lights didn’t go off until 7am. Plus, I had an 8am meeting to attend, so I didn’t get into Estabrook Park until after 9am. What a difference nearly four hours makes!

I did get to see some nice sights, however, and the first one was this gorgeous autumn meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum), a first for us.

At the river, I was thrilled to spot a spiny softshell turtle in yet another new spot, and I couldn’t believe my luck that it let me get my best portrait yet of such a fascinating creature.

Here’s a zoom in for more detail.

This mourning dove probably watched me creeping through the bushes to get a clear shot at the turtle and then waited around to see what I would do next. “Why, take your picture, of course, Sweetie.”

Just upstream of the turtle and the dove, this tiny summer azure was sipping moisture from the sand.

Just below the falls, the dryad’s saddle we saw just Monday sure has grown!

In the meadow at the north end, there were a few of these very-dark skippers flitting about, and I eventually caught one sitting still for a moment. If my ID as a northern broken-dash (Polites egeremet) holds up, that will be another first for us and our 25th butterfly species photographed in the park.

On the gravel path through the meadow and under a mulberry tree, another chipmunk was literally “stuffing its face.”

Meanwhile, this red squirrel was watching from a tree branch and perhaps was hoping that the chipmunk would leave some mulberries for it.

The flowers they planted after removing the dam still manage to bloom, and here is a huge golden northern bumble bee (Bombus fervidus) sipping nectar from a newly opened bee balm blossom. I read that “workers typically search for food in the afternoon,” which might explain why I don’t believe I’ve ever seen one before.

Finally, here’s a male Baltimore oriole quietly perched in the birch tree above the thistles where we’ve seen indigo buntings, song sparrows, and house wrens all calling.