As forecast yesterday, it was windy and partly cloudy in Estabrook Park this morning, but temps were only in the low 50s, so not too bad for finding critters, if you knew, or happened to stumble upon, where to look.
As I mentioned on Wednesday, the flood water has mostly flowed down stream by now, but the river is still not quite as low as it was before the flood, so there is hardly any exposed river bottom yet to attract interesting shorebirds. Instead, we have to make do with geese, mallards, a heron or two, and the occasional cormorant, as was the case today near the upstream island.
Back on shore, the wind was straight out of the west, so it was blowing through the trees pretty good there, and I was a little surprised to find this young magnolia warbler, perhaps the same one we saw yesterday, foraging in them anyway.
The sweet spot today, however, was up on the bluff and on the leeward side of the tall trees that grow there. They were really hopping with little birds when I arrived, and one of those little birds was this darling red-breasted nuthatch.
On the same branch as the nuthatch and nearly at the same time, there was also our first black-and-white warbler of the fall migration.
The next quiet spot I found was on the leeward side of the island of trees just to the northwest of the parking lot by the beer garden. There was another throng of little birds, most of whom evaded me, but I did manage to sneak a picture of this young chestnut sided warbler, another first of the season.
I did see one dragonfly today, but I never saw it sit still. Instead, I was quite pleasantly surprised to find butterflies at the pollinator garden, and here’s a slightly tattered hackberry emperor trying to sun itself while blending in with the wood chip mulch on the ground.
The wind wasn’t howling there, but it wasn’t still either, so I was even more surprised to find this monarch clinging to one of the Mexican sunflower blossoms. They were both swaying quite a bit, but once in a while the wind paused to catch its breath, the swaying would stop, and the monarch held its wings up nice and high for this portrait.
Finally, the crew was busy working on the falls this morning, and it appears that they might be trying to pump out the remaining standing water behind their temporary dam. If you squint, or click on the image so you can zoom in, you can see a third, orange piece of equipment between the two excavators, which I believe is a large pump on wheels, and some hose laying on the exposed rock and in the bucket of the excavator on the left.
I see that the wind is forecast to die down by tomorrow morning, and the clouds should thin out some more, so it ought to be a great morning for spotting any new visitors that might have arrived overnight.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 