The first thing I did this morning in Estabrook Park, of course, was check on the female ruby-throated hummingbird from yesterday, and you’ll be relieved to find out, as I sure was, that she’s still on her nest and looking just fine. She appears to be either laying eggs or incubating them because I’ve never seen her off her nest for long, nor have I seen her feeding anyone, yet. I wonder if she misses the sun as much as I do.
With that out of the way, I turned my attention to the river and found this pile of good-sized ducklings just upstream of the boat launch and napping under Mom’s watchful eye
Meanwhile, a ways downstream another hen was leading her brood of ten tiny ones toward the falls. I was too far away, and they were going too fast, for me to see if they actually went over the falls, but if they did, I bet they’re all fine.
Back up on the bluff, I spotted this curious looking little bird, which I now believe is a female blackpoll warbler, some of whom may “have a yellow wash on the breast and head.” The previous one we saw had much less yellow.
And that was pretty much it for pictures today, so let’s resume checking out the shorebirds on Lake Michigan last Thursday. This is a dunlin from McKinley Beach, which we’ve seen before, but not in breeding colors, and not this close.
Finally, the other “rare” bird on the waterfront that day, besides the snow goose, was this Franklin’s gull (Leucophaeus pipixcan), and our very first one. I read that they nest “by the thousands in North American marshes [and winter] along the coasts of Chile and Peru.” We do appear to be in their migratory range, but either this one is behind schedule, or they just don’t stop here very often. This one was on Bradford Beach, and folks walking along the water’s edge made this picture a little tricky to get, but the bird was very obliging, or exhausted, as the case may be, and soon landed again every time.
Lastly, your blossom of the day are on a wayfaring tree (Viburnum lantana), which is “native to central, southern and western Europe (north to Yorkshire in England), northwest Africa, and southwestern Asia,” and which supposedly “got its name from the herbalist Gerard who in 1597 noticed it on the routes between Wiltshire and London. It is said that if you see a wayfaring tree, you are on or near a path.”
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 