We had some rain overnight, and it sure was humid at sunrise, but the sky was mostly clear, and the air was almost still, so it was a fine morning to look for wildlife in Estabrook Park.
Some of the wildlife didn’t even wait for me to get there, and I was greeted as soon as I stepped outside our door by these two deer that were crossing Wilson Dr. Then they had second thoughts, so here they are back in the police station parking lot. You can see that the one on the left is sporting one antler, which I believe we’ve seen a couple of times before.
Once I finally managed to step into the park, I headed right down to the river in search of the common merganser drake we saw yesterday, but I had no luck today. Instead, I found this wood duck hen with a fresh-looking brood of ducklings.
I stopped by the pond and found both the yellow-crowned night heron and a young great blue heron, but I was more excited to see a mature-looking blue heron fishing at the falls again.
Then I popped back up the bluff to collect the 7 a.m. batch of wildlife walkers, and after a swing by the pond, we returned to the river, where we found these mallard ducklings dabbling right under some resting Canada geese. In fact, it appeared that Mom was taking a nap while her rugrats were being protected by “Nature’s watchdogs.”
All was fine until this little one, whom you can see fleeing with its wings spread wide just to the right of the goose’s leg, got too close and had to get a gentle reminder to keep a respectful distance. Then everything was fine again.
A bit up stream and just off the next island, this belted kingfisher, of which we saw three today, gave me a look that sure seems to say “you again,” doesn’t it?
We hiked all the way up to the Port Washington Road bridge to count the cliff swallows, and on our way back downstream, we saw this young-looking northern flicker who was kind enough to show us his namesake “yellow shafts.”
Back at the boat ramp, I finally found a monarch butterfly willing to sit for a picture.
She didn’t show us the dorsal (upper/inside) surface of her hind wing, so we could see that she doesn’t have the black mark that males do, but I believe pressing the tip of her abdomen against the bottom of a milkweed leaf to lay an egg gives it away anyway. You can also see that her proboscis is curled up in front of her face, so she’s not sipping nectar.
After laying that egg, she took a break and did indeed sip some nectar. You can see that her proboscis is now extended and inserted into a blossom, specifically for that purpose.
Finally, your dragonfly of the day is this male common whitetail, to go with the female I showed you on Thursday.
Lastly, we had six wildlife walkers today, including me, and together we saw 41 bird species and another white-tailed deer munching on the foliage on the upstream island.
Oh, and so I don’t forget, Friends of Estabrook Park is having a “Membership Picnic” at the Biergarten on Tuesday, July 15 from 5 – 7:30 p.m. If you’ve always wanted to ask me “why are your pictures so blurry?” or “what’s with all the bugs?”, come on out. If you’re not already a member, you’ll have to buy your own beer, but perhaps you’ll be inspired to join.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 
