Wow! What a stunningly gorgeous morning in Estabrook Park. A cold front came through last evening, and the air had a refreshing chill to it this morning. As I hustled north along the river, in hopes of catching a glimpse of the owl(s) again, I came across a guy at the falls with a pair of binoculars, and he turns out to be Dave, a recent subscriber, who had the same hope. So, we continued north together, but today was not Dave’s lucky day. He did get to see an osprey that we inadvertently startled from its perch over the northern island, which would have made an amazing picture, but we could find no owls. Oh well. As Dave said, “that’s how it goes sometimes.”
Dave had to go to work, poor guy, and I continued north, where I found a spotted sandpiper, with spots, on our side of the river.
On my way back south, I searched again for the owl(s), an osprey, or even a red-tailed hawk, but still had no luck, so I pressed on. As I neared the southern end of the southern island, however, I could see a big bird flying north over the far channel, so I ran back north to see who it might be. Ta da! The osprey had come back and brought with it a nice, big fish.
After getting that picture, I gave going south another try, and found a great blue heron had an itch to scratch, south of the falls,
At the pond, a male downy woodpecker found something in the end of that branch that had him all excited.
High over the north end of the pond, a male, yellow-shafted, northern flicker, with a nice ‘stache, appears to be just enjoying the warm sun.
A branch or two over, a young European starling, with a nice array of spots, appeared to be doing the same thing.
Meanwhile, down on the water, seven (7!) wood ducks crowded onto the same log.
At the pollinator garden, a young, or female goldfinch was enjoying seeds from a cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum).
As I continued south, I bumped into Ken, a long-time reader and fellow amateur naturalist, and he tipped me off to a new bug on the thistles in the weeds beside the soccer fields. Sure enough, here’s my first ever, and amazingly-named, “turbine cylindrical weevil” (Larinus turbinatus), at least according to iNaturalist. Wikipedia does not provide a common name.
A few yards farther south, I was thrilled to spot an example of the ever-astounding, common green darner.
Right next to the darner was my second ever spot-winged glider, which I completely do not recall seeing for the first time just six weeks ago. In my defense, however, that was the same day I got to see four (4!) beaver at once.
Finally, there were plenty of skippers and a single monarch glided by, but we’ve seen a bunch of them lately, so the “butterfly” of the day is gonna be a moth instead, and it’s our first ever artichoke plume moth (Platyptilia carduidactylus). Yup, that is really a moth, our second species of plume moth, in fact, and only the third species reported in Estabrook Park, so far.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 