Wow, it was chilly out this morning! I read 48°F, plus there was a nice breeze out of the north, so I had to layer up for the first time of the season. The cold might have kept some folks home for a bit, so I had the pond to myself when I arrived, and that enabled me to spot our first green heron of the month, probably a youngster by the looks of those light marks on the wings.
As I was looking to see who else might be around, the great blue heron flew in to provide fishing lessons again, but nobody was on the west lawn yet.
At the river, I had just plunked myself down on my favorite log, when I heard a familiar squawking from above from a pair of Cooper’s hawks with a lot to talk about.
At the far north end, as I scanned the bridge for pigeons and the power lines for starlings, I spotted this pair of crows who were up to something.
They repeated this act a few times, and the one on the right didn’t budge, but they were too far away for me to see what the one on the left was looking for.
Anyway, back at the pond, a couple of catbirds were meowing, and here’s the one I could get eyes on.
The tall trees around the pond were providing a nice windbreak, so the lower branches were full of little birds. Here’s a young bay-breasted warbler, another species we haven’t seen since May.
If my identification is correct, this is a Philadelphia vireo, which the fine folks at ebird have been flagging as “rare” for the last week or so.
Grackles are still around, though not in their usual haunts beside the river, so it was fun to catch this one over the pond.
Back out of the wind, here’s another black-throated green warbler.
The pond didn’t have a monopoly, however, and here’s a shy magnolia warbler lurking deeper in the leaves beside the river. We did see one of these just last month.
The breeze was pretty stiff at the pollinator garden, so my expectations were met when I didn’t find anyone there. Instead, this American rubyspot damselfly was perched in the sun right beside the walking path just north of the soccer fields.
Finally, there were a couple of intrepid, if tiny, fiery skippers on the thistle blossoms beside the soccer fields, so this will be your butterfly of the day.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 