The weather in Estabrook Park this morning, if anything, was even nicer than forecast. The air seemed nearly still for a while, so I was even able to hear a warbling vireo calling from across the river.
The first interesting scene came at the river and across from the two radio towers. There is a tall dead tree a ways downstream and over the far shore that birds like to perch in, and we had quite the menagerie today. In the upper right is our first American kestrel of the month, and it seemed to be the draw. Even a belted kingfisher paused from cruising by to stop in (lower left) and see what the commotion was about. The two birds closest to the kestrel are northern flickers, and the bird at the bottom is a robin, I believe. There was also a jay or two, and it was mostly the jays and robins who were mixing it up with the kestrel, who eventually decided to find a quieter perch.
Above the falls I found a more peaceful scene with a young spotted sandpiper quietly bobbing its tail while foraging for its breakfast.
The sandpiper paused after a while and began glancing skyward. I suspect it was this red-tailed hawk, perched high over the same island, that had captured the sandpiper’s attention. That also happened to be just when the sun poked through the clouds for a bit, which really lit up the hawk beautifully.
The gap in the clouds didn’t last long, however, so these next couple of birds are stuck with a white-sky background. This first one is a pine warbler, I believe, but they are considered rare for here right now, so my identification is subject to confirmation. It may turn out to be another immature blackpoll warbler, but it was behaving differently, so we shall see.
The experts eventually weighed in, and they decided that it is a Cape May warbler, instead.
This next bird looks quite similar, but its plumage has more orange in it, and its beak is a lot heftier, and that’s because it’s a female Baltimore oriole and another first of the month.
The young pewee was begging to be fed in nearly the same spot as Thursday, but this time I was able to line it up with a nice green background.
By the time I returned to the weeds beside the southern soccer fields, another patch of blue sky was gliding overhead, which makes a perfect background for our first rose-breasted grosbeak of the season, a female.
I did see another monarch, but the clear sky and sunlight brought a breeze with it, so this picture from yesterday of a monarch on a Mexican sunflower blossom at the pollinator garden is a lot nicer picture than anything I managed to capture today.
Finally, the crew working to reshape the falls was back at work by 7:15 this morning, and it appears that they managed to move a bunch of stone around yesterday.
The forecast for tomorrow calls for similar winds and temps but no clouds, so I’m gettin’ my hopes up.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 