The beautiful weather has returned to Estabrook Park, with cool, dry, and not too breezy air, so we had a gorgeous morning for a wildlife walk. As usual, I stopped by the river on my way to meeting folks at the beer garden, and the air was cool and still enough for a thin blanket of fog to form over the warm river water, which made a nice background for this young great blue heron fishing among the arrowhead leaves at the water’s edge.
There are a few plumb trees that grow around the top of the stairway down the bluff from the beer garden, and this red squirrel was enjoying the dropped fruit and/or pits so much that it didn’t even seem to mind me taking its picture for a change.
Five folks arrived for the 7 a.m. start, and we headed to the pond to check on the hooded merganser, who appears to be finding our crayfish tasty enough to stick around.
Back at the river, this deer appeared to be comparing and contrasting the plants that grow in the water with the willow growing on shore. I have no opinion about how each tastes, nor their nutritional value, but I believe that the willow leaves do make a better picture.
On my way to collect the 8 amers, I was surprised to find a white breasted nuthatch that I could get my camera on. They’ve been keeping mostly out of sight for a while, and they’ve even grown pretty quiet lately, but they are obviously still here.
Finally, I didn’t get any butterfly or dragonfly pictures today, but a few of us took advantage of the wonderful weather and continued our walk in Lincoln Park, just a bit up river, and the beebalm is in full bloom there, so I immediately checked for snowberry clearwings, and here’s our first of the year. Yay! As luck would have it, on my walk home through Estabrook, I found one on catnip by the southern parking lot, but the bee balm was in much better light.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 