Nature is calling…

The dreary weather continued this morning in Estabrook Park, but at least it had quit raining by “sunrise”, and the winds were light, so it was a pretty good time for using my ears to help me catch a glimpse of the new arrivals.

When I got to the pond, I could hear a new call, at least new for the season, from over by the softball field, and when I went in search of the source, the caller was kind enough to let me have a good look. Say “hello” to our first chipping sparrow of the year. We’re in their breeding range, but I don’t think they find what they’re looking for in Estabrook because I pretty much only see them during migration.

Meanwhile, back at the pond, I noticed something/someone poke out of the water for a moment and then quickly submerge again, and I thought it might be a snapping turtle, which I have seen do this from time to time, but it turned out to be the first pied-billed grebe I’ve seen at the pond this year. Yay!

I spotted another swimmer when I went around the back/east side of the pond, this muskrat who seemed especially pleased with the breakfast it had found for itself.

At the river, a great horned owl was perched high over the downstream island, but I just couldn’t get a good shot through the sticks, and there was a trio of blue-winged teals, but the light was just too low for such a long shot. Then, I heard another new-for-the-year call above, and a bit of staring straight up eventually led me to this elusive warbler, a pine warbler to be precise, and the first one I’ve ever managed to capture in an “image”, such as it is.

Finally, I was just about to hustle home to be in time for a morning event, when I heard one more newish song. Unlike the first two, however, this was long and complicated, and I initially thought I might be hearing our first grey catbird, since that odd winter holdover, but this call was louder and brasher than a catbird’s, and that’s because it was coming instead from our first brown thrasher of the year. Woo Hoo! We hit the trifecta again.

Then, I really did have to hustle home, so we’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning to see who else might have arrived.