The beautiful weather we’ve been enjoying in Estabrook Park is starting to look a little rough around the edges today with towering clouds embedded in a hazy sky. Thus, it was a little darker than usual at the pond when I arrived, which made a nice background for the youngish great blue heron we’ve been seeing there lately.
Then a green heron showed up, and I really wanted to get a nice picture of both of them together, and this was the best I could manage, but it does give you some sense of the difference in size between them.
When I gave up on the “family” portrait idea, I had better luck.
Meanwhile, there was another “family” reunion going on at the river when a pair of solitary sandpipers showed up. We haven’t seen them since the last “family” portrait back in May. Since their breeding range is well over the border into Canada, and they winter south of the Florida panhandle, I believe their arrival must officially mark the start of fall migration season! Woo hoo!
This visit was a little more contentious than the last, however, and one of the spotted sandpipers, who’ve been here all summer, seemed to have a bone to pick with their larger cousins, whom it kept chasing off. Perhaps it just didn’t want to share the breakfast buffet with these out-of-towners, or something else was up, but either way, there were no group shots.
I’ve shown you a blue dasher dragonfly already this month, but this one did a much nicer job of showing off the dashing black and yellow stripes it has under its wings.
Finally, I’ve also shown you a hackberry emperor butterfly this month, but that was from the other side of the state, and the only other one I’ve ever shown you also had its wings spread wide, so I was very excited to get a picture at last of one with its wings closed. Plus, who knew they had such amazing eyes? I sure didn’t.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 