It was just as warm, just as breezy, but a lot less cloudy this morning in Estabrook Park, compared to yesterday, so a wonderful early autumn day for a visit. Even better, the parkway was closed for the Shorewood Farmers Market, so it felt like I had the place and its critters to myself at times.
I didn’t see anyone to take a picture of, however, until I came across this red squirrel beside the river above the falls. It was quite upset with me, so I took a few, while it made its case, and then I continued north.
Farther upstream, I came across the doe with her fawn again, but they were on land this time, and after they trotted a few yards off the trail, I could only get eyes on her in the thick underbrush.
The owl(s) and the Cooper’s hawk(s) were absent today, but the osprey was back to fishing from its new favorite tree, right next to the Holiday Inn. Boy, some lucky visitor sure got an eyeful if they looked out the window just then.
Back on our side of the river, this brown creeper made things easy for me by giving me notice and then creeping up that trunk right into a ray of sunshine out in the open.
At the islands, this merlin swooped in and took a perch high above the northern one.
At the pond, the wood ducks and great blue heron continue to draw a crowd, but I was more interested in what might be our last turtle of the year, a red-eared slider in this case. Soon enough they’ll be burrowing into the mud for a long winter’s nap.
I didn’t get another presentable picture until the weeds to the east of the southern parking lot, when I found this male goldfinch feasting on thistle seeds and halfway between its summer finery and its winter coat.
I glimpsed the palm warblers again, but I couldn’t quite get them on film today. In fact, they were about the only warblers I saw, and I suspect all the rest caught a favorable wind last night. Luckily, I had much better luck yesterday, so here’s another look at the palm warbler, …
and here’s another look at the Nashville.
Finally, the butterfly selection was the same as yesterday, so here’s another bicolored striped sweat bee but this time on about as big an aster blossom as I’ve seen.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 