Well, one of you must not have been squeezing your thumbs hard enough because it’s been raining all morning and looks like it’s gonna rain all day. Worse, I’ve already milked the heck out of the sapsucker sighting on Monday and the warbler sighting on Sunday, so my back pocket is empty.
Thus, I have no choice but to revert to my side pocket, where I have a few pictures from my Tuesday afternoon ride home from that North Shore School for Seniors presentation I gave. Over the past week or so, a couple of kind readers have mentioned to me seeing interesting birds outside of the park, and since I was already on my bike and had my camera with me, I thought I’d take a stab at seeing them for myself.
This first sight is a pair of Cooper’s hawks that appear to have tried nesting once already this spring, but it didn’t work out. They are still hanging around together, however, so there is a hope that they will try again. Here’s one drying out after the rain, …
and here’s the other. I did a poor job of noting their relative size, so I can’t tell you which is the male and which is the female, but I’m sure they know. Let’s all hope they give it another try and have better luck the second time around. After all, “raptors play a critical role in maintaining ecosystem health.”
This next sight is even more exciting for me. I do get to see Cooper’s hawks semiregularly in Estabrook, but the great horned owl(s) I used to see all the time and who even raised an owlet, appear to have moved on, and perhaps this is the female trying to raise one or two more. “We’re all pulling for you, Honey!”
I’d sure hate to be sitting on a nest in this weather, but I’m not built for that, and they are. Nevertheless, I’m sure we all wouldn’t mind if the weather warmed up and dried out a bit to make their jobs a little easier. I see the forecast already calls for just that, and I’m not gonna jinx it again by asking you to try nudging it along.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 