Still waiting for summer to arrive…

It was a little warmer this morning than yesterday in Estabrook Park, and the breeze was a little lighter, but the clouds and wildfire smoke still kept the sun from warming things up to summer-time temps.

Nevertheless, critters gotta eat, and so my first treat of the morning was this female northern flicker digging something, probably pavement ants, out of a crack in the asphalt of the paved path.

I did see a kingbird this morning, probably even this kingbird, but it didn’t want any pictures today, so this picture is from yesterday morning in about the same spot.

Out over the river at the north end, this female belted kingfisher appeared to be preening after a bath.

I heard a few red-eyed vireos this morning, but they must be in the same union as the kingbird, so they also stayed out of sight, and this is another picture from yesterday.

The wood duck drakes are starting to molt out of their fancy breeding plumage, and here are a pair up on a rock in the river and starting to look a little frayed around the edges.

The female ruby-throated hummingbird was still on her nest again this morning. Yay!

I’ve shown you a few hoverflies before, but I don’t believe I’ve ever noticed ones this tiny. If my sources are correct, this species is called margined calligrapher (Toxomerus marginatus), and as you can see, they are smaller than a dandelion petal, and this isn’t even a very big dandelion blossom.

This picture might look a little gruesome at first, but it actually shows a fascinating behavior, which I’ve read about before, but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen with my own eyes in the wild. Again, if my sources are correct, these are prairie mound ants (Complex Formica fusca) “farming” or “dairying” black bean aphids (Aphis fabae), which means the ants protect them the aphids from predators in exchange for the honeydew they excrete. How amazing is that!?!

Finally, as a pallet cleanser, if you need it, here’s our first American lady butterfly in Estabrook Park for the year.

Okay, time for another bit of news. I’m taking off on a trip again, and it’s just six days, but it is by bicycle, so I won’t be bringing my camera along. Plus, I’ll have to miss another wildlife walk, but I saw that folks logged birds last Monday, the 9th, so I hope that can happen one more time.

Believe me, I realize that two trips back-to-back are a bit suboptimal, but both trips include a slew of people, and these were the dates that worked for everyone’s schedule, so I’m just happy I get to go on both. As before, I’ll post a few pictures to tide you over until I’m back.