The warblers ain’t done with us yet…

It was a fine day for an October farmers’ market in Estabrook Park, but the beautiful weather we’ve been enjoying lately has started to fray a bit. I’m sure few folks mind backing off on the heat some, but I was a little bummed to see the still air go.

Anyway, the wood duck drake at the pond has doubled his entourage from two to four hens. It’s amazing what a sharp-looking suit can do.

The pied-billed grebe is still there, but maybe this yawn suggests that it’s starting to get a little bored with pond life.

The big surprise for me, however, was the number of warblers in the park today. In addition to the yellowthroat, palm, and yellow-rumped warblers we’ve been seeing lately, here’s our first orange-crowned of the season with a beak full of caterpillar. Yum!

Here’s a black-throated green wishing he had the same.

I heard this one before I saw it, and immediately thought that it was a red-eyed vireo chasing after the ones who had been here but are now long gone. The song wasn’t quite the same, however, and that’s because this is our first blue-headed vireo of the season, instead.

While the warblers, vireos, and most of the sparrows are just passing through, this little cutie, our first dark-eyed junco of the season, has just arrived at its home for the winter. “Welcome! We hope you enjoy your stay.”

The warm weather even brought out some dragonflies, and here’s a common green darner parked for a moment in the sun at the pollinator garden.

There were also a few monarchs on the Mexican sunflowers again, but to avoid over exposure, here’s another clouded sulpher on aster blossoms.

The forecast for tomorrow morning looks about the same as today, so the viewing should be pretty good, and I wonder who we’ll see next.