A fine start to July…

The month could not have gotten off to a nicer start, here in Estabrook Park. The air was dry-ish, mostly still, and even a bit cool this morning, while the sky was clear and blue. Conditions were so nice for sleeping, that I’m using that as my excuse for sleeping in a bit. I didn’t get into the park until 6 am! Scandalous, I know.

For my sloth, the osprey looked away by the time I got there, or it was busy fending off a red-winged blackbird, who was urging it to find another perch. Either way, it appears to have brought at least one stick up there with it. I wonder if it is experimenting with nest building, as we’ve seen a young great blue heron do once before.

I wasn’t done paying for my tardiness, however, and by the time I was able to line up for a nicer shot, the red-winged blackbird had given up, or was taking a break, and the osprey decided it was time to go catch another fish. Sheesh!

There are still plenty of mallard hens shepherding young goslings (ugh) ducklings around, and here’s one with her brood on the river just below the falls.

Around the islands at the north end, I finally saw proof that at least one belted kingfisher has fledged, and heer here she is being fed a fish by Mom, I believe. Yay!

She was still hungry, however, …

and in short order, the parent caught another fish, beat it into submission against a branch, and served it up, cool and fresh. There appeared to be some attempt to make the youngster hop from branch to branch a bit for its food, but that didn’t last long. This time.

The next big treat at the north end was catching this glimpse of our first spiny softshell turtle of the season. I was beginning to wonder when they would emerge. It was across the river, so the image isn’t great, but we’re facing its rump, and you can just make out its head poking up at about 10 or 11 o’clock from the mottled dark green shell.

Back at the pond, our yellow-crowned night heron is still in residence, and here’s one more look. I see on the instagram that it has had some luck with the crayfish. Great catch!

I had three butterflies to choose from today, and I’m gonna go with one I haven’t shown you yet this year, a least skipper. It is tiny, with a total wingspan, not shown here, of only about an inch.

Finally, when I first saw this dragonfly, in the weeds beside the soccer fields, I could hardly believe my eyes. It looked like a curious combination of a black saddlebags and an autumn meadowhawk. Well, I am sure that you will be as stunned to learn as I was, that there is such a thing as a red saddlebags (Tramea onusta), and this is our very first one. Ta Da!