It was cloudy and windy this morning in Estabrook, but at least temps were mild for the season, and it wasn’t raining. These conditions made it a little tricky to find photogenic subjects, but the park still delivered anyway.
I found this little cutie, our first eastern bluebird of the month, just as I was wrapping up my loop around the pond. There were a few robins around, going a little crazy over the berries in the bushes beside the pond, but this one seemed smaller. Once I got my binoculars on it, I could see that it was no robin, and I grabbed my camera as quickly as I could. Even though I was shooting through some branches, it noticed me anyway, and it only let me have four images before it disappeared. Thank heavens one of them turned out to be presentable.
Similarly, at the north end, the path was covered with juncos and white-throats, most of whom fled as I approached, but this sweetie acted slightly differently, so I took a picture just in case. It turns out to be a field sparrow, which we have seen already this month, but not from this angle or in this light. “Your compatriot was at the south end, Honey.”
Back at the pond, the wood ducks and the pied billed grebe are still there, along with the photographers the wood ducks are attracting lately, but I really like the look of satisfaction the grebe seemed to be wearing this morning. I wonder if it already has a belly full of fish.
Finally, as I was walking back south on the path along the river, this sight stopped me in my tracks. Just when I thought all the big and fancy butterflies were done for the season, and all we were going to see for the next few weeks were sulphurs and whites, here’s one last mourning cloak who hasn’t yet found a crevice in which to hibernate. As I was taking pictures, I could see it was shivering, but I didn’t dare try to help warm it up, as I did with the snake last week. Happily, the shivering must have worked because as I was lifting the leaf on which it was perched to get it out of the middle of the path, it took off and completed the mission on its own. “Good luck, and see you next spring, I hope!”
Lastly, the crew has finished fishing all the sandbags out of the river, so now we can see what the finished product looks like. It sure is different, and I hope the fish like it. As for the new “Mount Estabrook” on the far shore, it remains to be seen if they are going to leave that with us or take it with them when they go.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 