It’s not August yet, but these sure feel like some lazy days of summer.

The recent great weather in Estabrook Park continued this morning, the cicadas were already singing at 7 a.m., and this green heron making one of its infrequent visits to the pond was icing on the cake.

There was also this trio of wood duck hens there, and they’ve started that mutual preening behavior that we’ve seen from them before.

On the river, the belted kingfishers are still feeding their noisy young.

As I was trying to capture the kingfisher feeding, these two large snapping turtles floated by and appeared to be “wrestling,” but I never got to see who “won.”

No sooner had the turtles drifted beyond range when this deer waded from the upstream island to the mainland, but there was no sign of the doe with her fawn today.

Back on shore, this dapper-looking American goldfinch male used some chicory as a perch from which to pick grass seeds, which you can see him deftly clutching in his right claw.

Just below, this less-flashy female did about the same.

I’ve seen both swamp milkweed and large milkweed bugs before, but never quite like this. It looks like they’re having quite a time.

I only captured my first amberwing image just last August, but it sure made me wait for it that day, and even then it didn’t let me get very close. Today, however, I didn’t have to wait long at all, and this one let me have a nice closeup. What a difference a year makes, eh?

Finally, despite the warm temps, calm winds, and plentiful blossoms, I didn’t see a lot of butterflies today, so it’s back to the monarchs again. The light was great, and the subject sat still, so the image has some pretty good details. If you click on it so you can zoom in, you can see how the scales on the wing appear to be arranged in a circular pattern around the “shoulder” joint.

Don’t forget that the Friends of Estabrook Member Picnic is this afternoon, Tuesday, July 15 from 5 to 7:30 at the Estabrook Park beer garden, and the invite explicitly states “feel free to bring new friends,” so come on out and join us if you’re able.