It was rainy and cool this morning in Estabrook Park: rainy enough to push back my start time by over an hour, but not cool enough to slow down the mosquitoes much. Oh well.
At the pond, it appears that our little celebrity guest has finally moved on. Darn. I didn’t catch a glimpse of it in two visits, and a guy waiting for it on the bench with his camera said he never saw it either. The good news, however, is that the black bullhead fry have hatched, and I saw several little schools wriggling around in the water. Here’s a video I recorded of them a few years ago.
Other good news is that yesterday’s surprise visitor, the osprey, was back again to sample our fish, although from the other side of the river this time.
As I searched in vain out on the water for either one of the hooded mergansers, this indigo bunting kept calling for attention, though probably not mine.
I stopped by the hummingbird nest again on my way back downstream, and I’m getting the sinking feeling that there is only one chick in the nest at this point.
A bit farther downstream, I found the wood duck hen warming up her brood.
Between the rain, the clouds, and the mosquitoes, I didn’t get a lot of pictures today, so here’s a curious Baltimore oriole from Saturday.
I didn’t see a single dragonfly today, perhaps because it was too cool for them, so here’s a black saddlebags from yesterday, when they were plentiful. At first I thought it was a new dragonfly for us, because it looks a little purple, and it doesn’t have the side markings of the ones I’ve shown you before: both in Estabrook, and at Kohler-Andrae. Well, I’ve now learned that this is because those were females, and this is our first male, so “Hello, Handsome!”
Finally, I did see a couple of moths today but no butterflies, so here’s a common buckeye from yesterday, when I was lucky enough to have extras.
I see tomorrow morning is forecast to be dry, a bit warmer, and maybe even a bit sunnier, so perhaps my luck will improve. Keep your fingers crossed!
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 