After a short reprieve, the wind is back today, and so now are the clouds, but there were a few minutes earlier this morning in Estabrook Park when the weather at least looked nice.
My first interesting sight came at the pond, when a bird call overhead caught my ear. I couldn’t place it right away, so I searched the huge oak tree above me, and soon found the source of the sound. It was this wood duck drake, whose call I do know, but coming from overhead must have made it out of context enough to throw me off. Yeah, that’s what it was: out of context. Anyway, the morning sun was lighting him up like magic.
Meanwhile, just on the other side of the path around the pond, this robin was taking a moment before hauling its prize off to add to its nest. Yes, upon closer inspection, that is a paper straw wrapper, but at least it’s not plastic and should behave in the nest just as a similarly-sized leaf would. Plus, that’s one less bit of litter that I have to collect, right?
From there, I headed to the river, where I found this yellow-rumped warbler, quite possibly the same one as we saw on Tuesday, reduced by the wind to foraging for bugs on the ground. Poor guy.
Meanwhile, just across the river path, this white-breasted nuthatch had also taken to foraging on the ground. Sheesh!
That’s it for critters today, so Jay was right, there was just a lot less to see today. Luckily, there are some sights that are impervious to the wind, and this skunk cabbage blossom is one of them.
And another is this marsh marigold just coming into bloom.
I see that the forecast for tomorrow is for more of the same, so who knows what I’ll find, but if it’s interesting or pretty, I’ll do my best to get a picture for you.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 