Maybe we’re done with the rain, at least for a couple of days…

We had a nice turnout for the Friends of Estabrook Park picnic yesterday afternoon, and our reward, besides the free beer, good music, and great company, was this amazing rainbow after a light shower rolled through.

The weather was back to being beautiful by this morning with mild temps, nearly still air, and clear blue skies. This great blue heron surprised me and a couple of other onlookers when it landed in a tree right over the beer garden. Sadly, it was about 12 hours too late for the free beer, but honestly, it probably wasn’t there for the beer.

Meanwhile, this green heron was intently fishing on the pond.

Oddly enough, this wood duck hen was the only bird who I saw have some good luck with fishing this morning. I’ve seen them catch and eat tadpoles, but I did not know that they will do the same with crayfish.

Here it is again providing us with another look at its catch.

The most interesting sight in the meadow at the north end was this gone-by Queen Anne’s lace blossom hosting both a sleeping golden northern bumble bee, on the right and which we have seen before, and a twice-stabbed stink bug (Cosmopepla lintneriana), on the left and which I didn’t even know existed until today.

In the flowers at the southwest corner of the dog park, the red-spotted purples have gotten so thick (I counted at least three) that they’ve resorted to sharing blossoms.

The monarchs were also thick, but they somehow managed to keep just one to a blossom.

Finally, the star of the show, for me at least, was this pristine-looking black swallowtail in the pollinator garden. It stayed stationary the whole time I was there, which made me think it might be letting its wings dry in the sun after just emerging from its chrysalis. “Welcome to Estabrook, Gorgeous!”