It started out cloudy, and the clouds are back again, but there was a moment in Estabrook Park this morning when the sky was clear and the sun shone brightly. Plus, the temps were pretty mild, especially in the sun, and the winds were lighter than I feared, so it was a very nice time for a walk.
My first treat came as I hiked up from the river toward the pond. I believe there were a pair of deer, though I never managed to see them both at once, and the little nubs of antlers on this guy make me wonder if they weren’t the pair we saw Saturday morning.
The wood ducks and grebe were on the pond, but our hooded merganser appears to have moved on. Perhaps it had had just about enough out of the wood ducks. So, I kept moving north, and my next treat came near the boat ramp when this gorgeous red-tailed hawk kept coming to hunt from the bare tree over my head. Every time I tried to take its picture, it took off again, but then it would come back. I’m not sure exactly what or who it was after, but I did manage to get an okay picture eventually. Too bad about those branches in the background, but I think you can still make out that blue sky I was gushing about above.
In between hawk visits, this song sparrow burst into song a little closer to the ground.
Finally, not all the warblers are gone yet, and I saw a few yellow-rumped at the pond, but this orange-crowned foraging in the bushes right beside the paved path let me sneak a better picture.
Lastly, since I’m so low on pictures from this morning, let me show you one more of the pied-billed grebe valiantly trying to swallow whole that fish it caught yesterday.
Ooh! I almost forgot. It appears that the crew has finally finished lowering the far side of the falls, and they started removing the sandbags from their coffer dam today.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 