Fog delay.

It was so foggy this morning, I waited an hour before I ventured into Estabrook Park. Even then, it was still foggy enough over the soccer fields to create this magnificent sight.

The fog also bejeweled all the spider webs.

It took another hour for the otherwise clear skies to allow the sun to “burn off” the rest of the fog. By then, however, I had missed the owl(s) and the osprey, if they were even out this morning, but I did catch this male belted kingfisher at the river.

This great blue heron was using the newly-arrived sun to make its feather mites uncomfortable.

The nice surprise of the morning was finally finding a northern waterthrush, yet another migrating warbler, despite the name, that was more hungry than it was shy.

I did also see a young chestnut-sided warbler making its maiden journey south, but the pictures are not fit for publication. Instead let’s take another look at this butterfly, which I incorrectly identified as a field skipper last Sunday. I have since learned that the field skipper range does not extend east of the Rockies, and so this must be a huron sachem (Atalopedes huron) instead.

Finally, since it posed so nicely on a thistle blossom, let’s let this tiny Peck’s skipper be the butterfly of the day.