Don’t blame me if I sound like a broken record because it’s not my fault that the weather just keeps getting a little nicer every day. In fact, it is supposed to get so warm this afternoon that this yellow-rumped warbler, our first of the season, may wonder if it didn’t set out too soon.
This young great blue heron and I surprised each other with our sudden proximity at the river. Luckily its reaction was to freeze and mine was to take its picture.
At the north end, I finally got our first kinglet picture of the fall, and that white eye-ring makes this little darling a ruby-crowned, even if we can’t see its ruby crown.
The red-winged blackbirds are all long gone, but there are still a few grackles hanging around, and this one really put on a light show for us.
As I started to make my way back downstream, I could hear a few crows making a ruckus, and I thought maybe they were mobbing a raptor. So, I picked up the pace and arrived in time to find at least a dozen crows harassing a pair of Cooper’s hawks. One of the hawks flew around a bit, and one just sat and cried. The youngster below was the crier, poor thing, and I’d bet the flier was a parent trying to help its kid out.
I didn’t hear or see any red-breasted nuthatches today, for a change, but this white-breasted was really putting on a show for somebody. I doubt very much that I was the intended audience, but I tried to show my appreciation anyway. The WordPress rendering of all the pictures today looks a bit low-res, but this one might be the worst because the original came out especially nice, so you know what to do.
The goldfinches already have their winter coats on, despite the weather, and the sunflower seeds are ripe, which should go a long way towards replenishing the calories it took to grow all those new feathers.
Eat’m while they’re fresh!
The monarchs continue to love the Mexican sunflowers, and I had at least three subjects to choose from today.
Finally, this thing, which my sources tell me is a bear’s head tooth fungus (Hericium americanum) and Vermont’s state mushroom, was about the size and shape of a rugby ball. It’s a contender for the most amazing mushroom I have ever seen.
Lastly, the crew was hard at work on finishing up the reshaping of the falls this morning, and if you zoom in, you can see that they have backed the articulated dump truck onto the exposed river bottom so that the excavator can fill it up with limestone rubble.
The forecast for tomorrow is more of the same with a smidgen more wind, so it’s gonna be a great morning to see who else just flew in.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 