After seeing the towhee in Estabrook Park yesterday morning, Anne and I drove out to her mom’s place in Waterford for a family get-together. There, we were treated to a couple of sandhill cranes and a wild turkey in the surrounding fields, and a parade of ducks on the pond behind her house. The best sight, however, was this great blue heron, who snatched a steady stream of tiny fish out of the water. You can just make out the tail of one about 2/3rds of the way down its beak in this picture.
Back in Estabrook this morning, the green heron was at the pond again, and we eventually spotted a 2nd one. Hurrah, and I hope they stay!
A great horned owl was at the river again, but it had tucked itself deep into the sticks this time, perhaps in an effort to get out of the wind and the rain.
Closer to the water, these two wood ducks were interesting, because he seemed a bit more agitated by my presence than she was. He kept stretching his neck higher and kept one wide-open eyeball pinned on me, while she just continued with her preening. Then, when she was finally ready, they both took off.
Just beyond the wood ducks, this pied-billed grebe surfaced for a second, took one look at me, and submerged again. I get that sometimes.
Farther upstream and back on shore, a male cardinal brought this tasty-looking morsel to his mate on her nest, which she seemed to readily accept and gobble down. Ah, true love.
Finally, it was time for me to hustle to the parking lot to meet the folks braving the weather for our weekly wildlife walk. There were nine of us, and we managed to spot 34 bird species, including a pair of Cooper’s hawks, a second grebe, and our first black-and-white warbler of the year, which the fine folks at ebird consider to be “rare” for this date. A keen-eyed birder in our group, with a lot more experience than me, tipped me off to the fact that the thick, black stripes across the eye and down the neck mark him as a he.
Lastly, we have another new wildflower starting to bloom in the park, and this one appears to be a false rue anemone or wood anemone, but I didn’t capture enough detail to be sure which.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 