Estabrook Park Report #1500!

You read that right, Campers. This is indeed my 1500th post since this little operation got underway back on March 26, 2020. Since then, we’ve cataloged 322 critters in Estabrook Park on this site and about 450 on iNaturalist, where I feel free to post any recognizable picture, no matter how dark or blurry, and the number depends a little bit on exactly where you draw a rectangle to represent the border of the park. That 450 includes 216 vertebrates, comprising 19 mammals, 170 birds, 7 reptiles, only 2 amphibians, and 18 ray-finned fish. The 234 or so non-vertebrates include 33 butterflies, 45 moths, 21 dragonflies, 9 damselflies, and 11 spiders.

Anyway, we had 4 intrepid souls, including 2 first-timers, who braved the heat and humidity this morning to join me on our weekly wildlife walk, and these are some of the sights we saw. The juvenile black-crowned night heron was at the pond again, at least for the 7 a.m. crew.

The doe was beating the heat by laying in the cool weeds on the far riverbank, and we didn’t see the fawn, but we can suppose that she left it safely stashed on the island.

When we all returned to the pond, with the 8 a.m. crew, the hooded merganser put on a nice little disappearing act with this crayfish. Now you see it, …

and now you don’t. Where could it have gone?

I was surprised to find a couple of turtles, including this painted, up out of the water because the sun wasn’t shining very strongly at the moment, and I wonder if they might have been trying to cool off instead.

A special treat for me came in the meadow at the north end when I spotted this stunning chickweed geometer moth (Haematopis grataria), my very first, and I did not know that moths even came with that color scheme. I read that “male chickweed geometers have feathered antennae, while females have thinner, thread-like antennae,” so this one’s a dude.

Finally, we spotted the first red-spotted purple I’ve seen in the park so far this year, and it sure look fresh out of its chrysalis. Doesn’t it?

Lastly, this afternoon I’m off to Kohler-Andrae to join Anne at her extended family’s annual campout, and maybe this will be the summer when I finally get a picture of a least bittern. Wish me luck, and I’ll keep you posted!