It was a very nice morning in Estabrook Park. Temps were seasonably cool, the winds were light, and the sky was nearly clear. But before we get to the critters, and before I forget, let me make a couple of quick announcements.
First, in case you’ve just joined us or skipped over the recent image handling bruhaha, you may indeed be seeing double, but there is no need to adjust your set. It won’t help anyway. To provide the best viewing experience I can for the most readers, I am inserting all the images in two different ways. For some of you, both will look fine, and you’re welcome. For another group, one will look correct, the other will be stretched, and I’m sorry about that. And for a third group, one will look correct, and the other will be merely a link to Flickr. C’est la vie. If and when I find a single method that works for everyone, I will immediately switch to that.
Second, I just learned yesterday that the beer garden will provide free beer to those who join the Friends of Estabrook as they cleanup the park Saturday morning, but I don’t believe that the beer will be available until after the cleanup, so prepare yourselves. The posted details are “Park Cleanup 10AM – Noon meet at the Beer Garden.”
Now, on to the “infrequency”. This darling pine siskin, who are not actually rare here, but whom we don’t get to see very often, was perching at eye-level beside the pond and let me get my best picture yet of a siskin in Estabrook.
Even though they are not that infrequent anymore, thankfully, it is still always a thrill for me to see a bald eagle. I was alerted to the presence of this magnificent adult when all the mallards on the river were suddenly in the air, like a disturbance in the force, so I hustled up to the northwest end to find the cause perched high over the far shore.
I’ve been noticing eastern black walnuts wedged into the forks of small trees for years, and I could never quite be sure it didn’t just happen by accident. This one, however, was clearly not there by accident. There were no black walnut trees in the immediate vicinity, and even if there were, the nut could not have gotten into this particular fork by gravity alone. Instead, I read that the nut was probably wedged in there for safe keeping by an American red squirrel.
Next, the oddity, this rusty blond duck swimming on the river with a few, slightly smaller, mallards. I’m sure it’s a hybrid, but I have not yet figured out who its parents might have been.
Finally, the rarity, our first redpoll of the season. It was one of a trio that were eating seeds from the birch trees along the back side of the pond. “Welcome back, Sweetie! I hope you like our birch seeds.”
The current forecast for tomorrow looks even better than today, so I can’t wait to see who pays us a visit next.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 