Well, the river is still crazy high, and it’s raining again this morning, so even though I did wander around in Estabrook for a while between showers, we’re gonna hafta go to the archives for some images this morning. Luckily, the pond and pollinator gardens were pretty fruitful yesterday, so we don’t have to go back too far.
When the hooded mergansers were not busy fishing crayfish off the bottom of the pond, they spent some time drying off and preening, and here’s one sharing a log with a pair of wood ducks.
The great blue heron struck a couple of nice poses, and here’s another one.
As I mentioned, the sun poked through the clouds once in a while, and here’s a belted kingfisher caught in a sunbeam for a moment.
And here’s another look at that display I kept seeing them perform. I read that “both members of the pair will vigorously defend their territory by chasing away approaching trespassers while calling out loudly,” and “along with this they may spread their wings, raise the patches of white feathers next to their eyes, and scream,” so that could explain what the three were up to yesterday, but I wonder which one was the trespasser.
Here’s one more look at the female ruby-throated hummingbird at the cup plant blossoms behind the dog park. I don’t know why the WordPress rendering of some pictures looks so much worse than others, but this is one of those cases, and you know what to do.
I did see a couple of pearl crescent butterflies in the meadow at the north end again yesterday, but I was glad to find one finally in the pollinator garden as well.
Here’s another look at the hackberry emperor, but of the top/in/dorsal side of its wings this time.
Finally, there were red-spotted purples at both stands of cup plant, and this is one from the pollinator garden.
I’d love to tell you that the weather is going to be beautiful for the Friends of Estabrook Park picnic in the beer garden this afternoon, but I don’t want you to think of me as a fibber. Instead, let me just say that temps are predicted to be only in the high 70s, the chance of showers is under 50%, and they do have a lot of covered tables, so that’s pretty good, given the recent past. Plus, the most recent invite I received explicitly states “Feel free to bring new friends! We are usually seated in the southeast corner,” so I hope to see you there.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 