Wow! What beautiful weather we had in Estabrook Park this morning. The sky was clear, the breeze was light, and it was cool enough for me to put on a windbreaker for a change. The critters seemed to enjoy the break from the heat, as well, because they were more plentiful than I’ve seen them in a while.
My first surprise was this beaver, who I watched swim across the river and then just park under a tree growing on the far riverbank to enjoy its breakfast.
In addition to a young great blue heron and two female wood ducks, we had a green heron at the pond.
Then it was time for me to meet the wildlife walkers, and we had five in the 7 a.m. batch. Our first stop was the pond, and the green heron had gone into hiding already, but look who was now there instead, our first brood of ducklings for the year on the pond. Woo hoo!
After a loop around the pond and a short stretch of river, it was time for me to collect the 8 a.m. arrivals, of which there were three, and by the time we caught up to the first group at the river, look who was also there, our first fawn of the year. Yee haw!
Here’s the little rascal exploring on its own for a second while Mom works on her breakfast just out of frame.
Then it was time to wrap things up, but not before the osprey gave us a little airshow, which I completely failed to capture. In all, the group identified 34 bird species, and after farewells, I started making my way back downstream, which is where I came across the third big surprise of the day. I’ve seen softshell turtles on the far riverbank at the north end a couple of times already, including this morning, but this is the first one this year on our riverbank, where I can make a nice portrait. Hurrah!
As I was doing my best to sneak a turtle picture without disturbing it, there were a couple of critters just a bit farther downstream making a racket. One turned out to be a squirrel, the other was a robin, and when I looked to see what all the shouting was about, I found the fourth big surprise of the morning, our first great horned owl since the middle of May. Hip, hip, hurray!
Finally, back at the south end, I found this white-faced meadowhawk dragonfly in the weeds that grow to the east of the southern parking lot.
Lastly, I’ve been seeing this thistle blossom, a bull thistle I believe, in the weeds beside the soccer fields for a few days now, and I was thrilled to find a butterfly on it, at last, and that it is a monarch just sweetens the deal.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 