It was a little breezier but warmer and less cloudy this morning in Estabrook Park. Plus, there were plenty of birds around, so it was a great day for late September.
The wood ducks and one great blue heron on the pond continue to attract a crowd, especially on such a nice weekend morning, so I continued straight on to the river at the north end.
A great horned owl, I suspect the little one of the two, which is probably a male, was being harassed by a large Cooper’s hawk, which probably makes her a female. Here he is keeping eyes on her.
And here she is in-between squawking fits.
I left them to resolve their differences on their own and continued farther north, where I came upon this stunner, a male black-throated blue warbler. I’ve only ever managed to show you a picture of one once before, back in May of 2023, so I was thrilled to have another chance.
I hiked up to the bridge to count the pigeons and starlings that congregate there, and on my way back south, I spotted this beauty, an osprey, fishing from a tree beside the Holiday Inn.
Farther south, across from the northern island, this eastern phoebe might look like it was basking in the sun, but it was busy watching for birds so that it could swoop out and grab them.
Meanwhile, in the underbrush below the phoebe, this hermit thrush waited for me to keep on moving. It looks like the Swainson’s thrushes we’ve been seeing lately, but I’ve been reminded that the tinge of cinnamon on its wings and tail, compared to its head and back, make it a hermit
Back at the pond, the crowd had grown, so I skirted around the east side and found this yellow-bellied sapsucker trying to stay out of sight.
Above the sapsucker, on the other hand, this common grackle was putting on quite the light show with its iridescent feathers. Under most conditions, they look jet black.
South of the pond, where the paved path runs right between the parkway and the edge of the bluff, this red-bellied woodpecker was really chowing down on what it was finding in the hole in the trunk it was on.
There was a big soccer match going on, so I didn’t try to visit the weeds west of the soccer fields, and I headed straight to the Church House instead, where I found a darling pair of palm warblers foraging in the herb garden.
Finally, I found a pair of Nashville warblers foraging in the weeds growing east of the southern parking lot.
Lastly, the only butterfly I saw today was a fiery skipper, of which we’ve seen plenty, so here’s a bicolored striped sweat bee on a tiny aster blossom in the pollinator garden.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 