The air was still and warmer than it has been recently, but the clouds were thick and leaky, so looking for critters in Estabrook Park this morning was a mixed bag.
One happy consequence of the conditions, or just pure luck of the draw, and I don’t know which yet, was finding our little grey-morph eastern screech-owl tucked away in its once-in-a-while nook.
The treat on the river today was spotting a pair of blue-winged teals again, just off the downstream tip of the upstream island, and this time it comprised a drake and a hen.
When I looked upriver, I couldn’t see a single pigeon on the bridges, so I decided to hike up there, at least to make sure the one was still on her nest. Well, she was, but when I looked around to see who else I could see from there, I could not believe my eyes. Just a bit farther upstream, so technically not in Estabrook, but I sure as heck could see them from the park, was a big flock of wild turkeys. I hustled under the bridges and upstream until I was just across from them to get a good picture, and here are four toms in various stages of strutting their stuff. There were two more toms and ten hens, so sixteen birds in total. Long-time readers may recall that we do get to see an isolated hen from time to time in Estabrook Park, but this is as close as I’ve come to seeing a tom there. “It’s just a couple hundred yards, guys. Come on down!”
Anyway, that’s it for birds today, so here’s another look at that golden-crowned kinglet from yesterday.
Finally, I’ve started to see plenty of green shoots, but these Siberian squill on the side of the bluff are the first blossoms I’ve seen in the park.
The forecast calls for more showers and even warmer temps tomorrow morning, so who knows what we’ll get, but I saw plenty of bugs in the air already this morning, and with any luck, the even warmer air tomorrow will finally attract some more insectivores.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 