The warblers return!

The dreams I had yesterday about what today would be like came true, and despite the cold, with temps in the mid-40s, it was a spectacular morning in Estabrook Park. Even better, the migrating warblers are here and ravenously foraging for insects through the trees.

I didn’t really start to see them until I reached the river at the north end, the sun was high enough to start warming things up quickly, and the temps were back into the 50s. Then things got busy, and here’s an immature blackpoll warbler bathed in the golden morning light.

Here’s a female or immature male magnolia warbler.

As if that wasn’t enough, then an osprey soared over, and I thought it continued downstream after I lost sight of it, but that was until I heard the huge splash in the river. It came up empty, this time, but it perched over the far shore.

Even better, it eventually came to our shore, and I was lining up the perfect shot through a gap in the leaves when it either saw a fish, saw me, or something else spooked it. Dang.

It’s possible I expressed my disappointment out loud because this Swainson’s thrush poked its head up to see what was the matter.

On my way to the pond for my second visit, I thought I heard a blue-gray gnatcatcher, but closer inspection revealed a young eastern wood-pewee crying to be fed, instead. Perhaps breakfast had been delayed by the cool morning, but by then the insects were plentiful, and a parent, on the right, gave me three tries to get this picture. Sadly, this was as good as I could get before the youngster moved on.

At the pond, there was a group of red-eyed vireos, which I suspect were migrants from farther north. The species has been here all summer, but they tend to stick to the treetops, and I haven’t gotten a picture like this since last spring.

At the weeds beside the soccer fields, the show continued with this young bay-breasted warbler.

Finally, I saw American redstarts yesterday, but one wouldn’t let me sneak a picture until today.

Lastly, I didn’t see a single butterfly all morning, but there were several dragonflies warming up in the sun, and here’s a wandering glider, which I haven’t seen since July.

I see that the forecast calls for clouds and wind tomorrow morning, so who knows who we’ll find, and you’ll just have to tune in to find out.