I’m back from the dentist, and man-o-man, has it gotten windy while I was away. I didn’t expect to see much this morning, but at least it wasn’t raining, and I needed the exercise anyway, so I took a walk in Estabrook Park to see who I could see.
My first pleasant surprise came as I approached the falls and found this great blue heron on the water, perhaps digesting breakfast and/or waiting for the wind to subside so it can go someplace more secluded.
Upstream and on the exposed river bottom between the two islands, I was even more surprised to find a pair of killdeer still hanging around.
The biggest surprise of all, however, was spotting our very first gadwall drake of the season. That ought to give the hens something to quack about.
One nice side effect of strong winds is that if I do spot a little bird, it’s often closer to the ground than usual, and here’s a white-breasted nuthatch by the pond, right at eye level, and showing off a nice big nut that it is probably about to “hatch” with the help of a crevice in that bark.
Finally, all this wind has blown in some very warm air, and it was 70°F at sunrise, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised to find an aptly named autumn meadowhawk dragonfly (Sympetrum vicinum).
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 