The clouds and breeze stayed away, at least for this morning, and the temperature rose a bit overnight, so we had no frost today in Estabrook Park.
I bet this little cutie that I found at the north end of the soccer fields didn’t mind that a bit.
Beside the river at the north end, I found a smaller cutie, a young, white-crowned sparrow, appearing to be drying off after a dip. Brrr!
One noticeable change in the fauna today was another big infusion of dark-eyed juncos. They were foraging in big groups throughout the park. Luckily, this one paused in a nice sunny spot, also beside the river at the north end, for a moment.
I didn’t see a warbler again today, the grackles have been gone for a while, and the flickers are nearly gone, so I was happy to find a phoebe still rustling up some bugs for breakfast.
The great blue herons continue to come by, and here’s one up in a tree again.
Things got exciting for a moment at the north end when I could see a bald eagle over the far riverbank and a red-tailed and Cooper’s hawk over the northern island all at the same time. I couldn’t really get a picture worth showing of any of them, but when I hiked out on the dry river bottom to get a little closer to the eagle, this belted kingfisher let me get a nicer picture than I’ve managed in a while.
To round out the raptor quartet of the day, an osprey came upriver with a fish in tow and perched to take a couple more bites, which let me get a better picture than the other three birds had.
Finally, as I was checking for sparrows again, in the usual spot, I wasn’t seeing anything new, but I did spot this sweetie trying to get a little shuteye in the tall grass. I snapped a quick picture and backed away to leave her as undisturbed as I could.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 