The first pleasant surprise this morning in Estabrook Park was finding the yellow-crowned night heron back on the pond. I wasn’t the only one who looked in vain for it yesterday, and we all figured it had finally moved on, but there it was today as if it had never left.
The second pleasant surprise was finding a green heron, also at the pond. We saw them quite often in May, but they’ve been hiding real well lately.
The third surprise was that our hooded merganser count is now up to three.
The fourth surprise was getting eyes on a spotted sandpiper, who had gone into hiding with the green herons. For those who don’t see it right away, it is the little bird running along the edge of the water right in front of the relatively-ginormous Canada goose.
With all the ducklings I’ve been seeing lately, it wasn’t much of a surprise to find this mallard hen with her young brood.
I don’t have a picture for this, because I didn’t want to take a picture of an empty nest, but I should still tell you that the hummingbird nest was empty this morning. That is not necessarily bad news, however, because I read that they fledge at about three weeks old, and we don’t know exactly when they hatched because I was away, so it is certainly possible that they have simply fledged. The two chicks sure looked healthy just three days ago, so let’s hope for the best and wish them well.
Now, on to the bugs. The air was cool, and the sun never really burnt through the haze, so the supply was a bit limited, but your dragonfly of the day is this female common whitetail perched on the bare and fallen trunk of an ash tree that appears to have been done in by emerald ash borers.
Finally, your butterfly of the day is this dainty eastern tailed-blue, who is perched on a right-sized lesser stitchwort blossom, if my sources are correct.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 