Since it was raining pretty good when the sun came up this morning, and the big green blob on the radar was forecast to take its sweet time drifting out of the area, I took the morning off to run some errands. At around 10:30, I noticed that it was starting to look dry-ish outside, so I grabbed my gear and finally headed for Estabrook. The question then was who might be out and about at that late hour.
I was relieved to find that quite a few critters were busily going about their morning, and I spotted this sparrow in the weeds beside the southern soccer fields. I hoped it might be a Lincoln’s or someone even more exotic, but it’s just a good-ol’ song sparrow, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
There were no photographers at the pond when I arrived, for a change, but the pied-billed grebe was still there. I’m sure gonna miss it when it finally continues its journey south.
Same for the wood ducks.
The river was up about a foot from yesterday, and most of the exposed river bottom, from which I had collected tires on Friday, was back under water. Perhaps the lowering of the falls will lower the water around the islands less than I feared. Anyway, there was hardly a bird on the water today, so here’s another look at the killdeer from yesterday.
Back up on the bluff, I finally caught one of the several yellow-rumped warblers I’d been seeing all morning. It appears that I was a bit premature in supposing that all the warblers had already flown south, although the ones I saw today could be fresh arrivals from up north.
On my way back south and back at the river, this youngish-looking female belted kingfisher uncharacteristically let me sneak this picture before dramatically bolting to the far shore.
Up on the bluff once more, I stopped by the pollinator garden, but there was barely a blossom left to pollinate, let alone any pollinators around. Instead, the interesting sight today was a small group of dark-eyed juncos foraging for seeds in the grass.
Yesterday was a different story, on the other hand, and here’s probably our last look for the season at a monarch butterfly on a Mexican sunflower blossom.
The current forecast calls for beautiful, if cool, weather for our weekly wildlife walk tomorrow morning. Sunrise isn’t scheduled to occur until 7:12 am, however, so I won’t be arriving at the beer garden parking lot until just before 8 am, when the sun should be already warming up the day. If you want to start earlier, feel free, and I’ll see you at 8.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 