All the rain from yesterday eventually drifted east, and it took most of the clouds with it, too, so we had a pretty nice morning again in Estabrook Park. The trees at the crest of the bluff along the west edge of the soccer fields were abuzz with birds, as I had found them yesterday afternoon, but this time with little birds.
Here’s another young, male rose-breasted grossbeak, on its way south and waiting for the sun to come over the trees to the east.
And here’s our first yellow-rumped warbler of the fall migration.
At the river, I was surprised to find a young green heron still hanging around. Most appear to have moved on already, and the fine folks at ebird.com have started listing them as “infrequent”.
At the pond, I counted over a dozen wood ducks, and you can just see a bit of a mature male in the upper right of this picture, but my intended subjects were the eclipse male and female canoodling in the center.
As I approached the river, I inadvertently spooked this deer, but not so much that it didn’t stop and try to size me up from a safe distance.
I didn’t see any owls or other exciting visitors out on the water today, but this white-throated sparrow sure looked sharp in the warm morning sun.
As I was taking a picture of the sparrow, this mature Cooper’s hawk swooped in and perched just long enough for its own picture.
Back at the pond, the yellow-bellied sapsuckers were thick in the trees, but this youngster is the only one who would sit still for a second. “Rookie move, but thanks!”
Barely a couple of steps from the sapsucker, I found our first white-crowned sparrow of the season, and perhaps it was exhausted from the flight in, because I don’t believe one has ever let me take as nice a portrait.
Out on the pond, right behind the sparrow, the young great blue heron was done with fishing lessons and just hanging out on a log and making pretty reflections.
On my way back home, I checked the river again, but the green heron had moved on, and I haven’t seen a sandpiper in a while, so I figured I was done with birds and headed up to the pollinator garden to check for butterflies. Halfway up the bluff, I heard a familiar chirp, well halfway between a chirp and a croak, and this time I was able to lay eyes on this elusive cutie, our first photographed brown thrasher of the fall migration.
Finally, I didn’t see a single butterfly again this morning, so here’s a clouded sulphur from Saturday to be your butterfly of the day.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 