We had a picture-perfect morning for a wild life walk in Estabrook Park today, with clear skies, a very light breeze, and temps cool enough to keep the mosquitoes quiet for a while. Eight brave souls came out to face the elements, and we set out hoping to see scads of warblers. Many of those birds, however, seemed to have prior engagements, likely south of here, so we did see a few, but certainly not scads.
I didn’t even take a picture until I had collected the 8 o’clock arrivals, and we were on our way to meet the rest of the group at the north end. Along the way someone with sharp eyes spotted a hawk on the hunt around the base of a tree, and it soon emerged to perch beside the path right in front of us. That’s when we could identify it as a Cooper’s hawk, and if you don’t believe me, please allow me to point out the crazy long tail it’s sporting.
By the time we did all regroup, the sun had warmed things up enough for the warblers who were still with us to start their foraging, and here’s a young or female magnolia warbler hiding in plain sight amongst some oddly variegated maple leaves, perhaps of a “Norway Maple cultivar ‘Drummondii’, also known as the Harlequin Maple,” but don’t quote me on that.
In the next tree over, with a more-traditional color pallet, a bay-breasted warbler is a little easier to see.
We all visited the river, in hopes of seeing warblers where I’d been seeing them all weekend, but the best sight there was an osprey over the far shore.
As we made our way toward the pond, another sharp set of eyes spotted this red-tailed hawk near the beer garden parking lot. That makes it a three-raptor morning, which hasn’t occurred much lately.
I had an 11 am meeting to get to, so I couldn’t dawdle too much, and soon began making my way south. As I rounded the bend in the path to head toward the weeds along the west side of the southern soccer fields, I finally spotted our first palm warbler of the fall migration. It was looking more stripey and less yellow than usual, and it was bobbing its tail as it foraged along the ground as I had just watched the northern waterthrush do yesterday, so I am a bit surprised to read that they are indeed both members of the New World Warbler family, Parulidae, but they are not in the same genus. Hmmm. Perhaps it’s a mild case of convergent evolution.
Anyway, I was trying to keep on schedule, so I tore myself away and checked for pretty insects in the weeds, and this white-faced meadowhawk was my best find.
Finally, the monarchs were thick today, and I saw at least six at the pollinator garden and at least two more beside the soccer fields. I hear that they are fueling up for their long flight to Mexico, and here’s one sipping nectar from one of the many goldenrods at the pollinator garden.
Lastly, my 11 o’clock meeting was the instructor orientation for this fall’s semester of North Shore School for Seniors, and I’m scheduled to show my pictures and tell my stories about the wildlife in Estabrook Park on Tuesday, October 7 at 1 pm. If you always wanted an opportunity to beg me in person to stop showing spider pictures, this is your big chance, and you can register for my “class” on their website at https://nss4s.org/home/classes/
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 