Man, the sky has been so consistently grey in Estabrook Park for so long that when there was a momentary gap in the grey this morning, I jokingly asked the folks on our weekly wildlife walk, “what’s that blue stuff overhead?” Well, at least the winds were light, and it wasn’t raining yet.
As I hustled along the river to make my 8 am appointment, I spotted a pair of muskrats at the water’s edge just downstream. I’ve ever only managed to capture two together once before, so not a bad start to the morning.
At the pond, a female belted kingfisher perched among the sumac seeds over the far shore.
On our walk, there were twelve of us again, and we spotted, or positively IDed by sound, 21 bird species, including a great horned owl, which we inadvertently spooked from its perch over our riverbank as we approached to see who might be out on the water. It only flew to the northern island, but it found such a good hiding spot there that it took us all a while just to get eyes on it, so no picture today.
All the rest of the birds seemed to follow the owl’s example and avoided my camera. The one other picture I did manage is of this raccoon appearing to be sleeping while half sticking out of a completely different tree than last week. I guess the housing market really is as tight as they say.
The current forecast calls for another freeze overnight and clear skies in the morning, but at this point, I’ll believe it when I see it.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 