It was a pretty soggy morning in Estabrook Park, wetter than the forecast led me to expect, but it wasn’t too cold, the breeze was pretty light, and there were even times when no precipitation was falling, so it was a lot better than Thursday.
The river is up at least a foot since yesterday, and there were a few interesting birds on it. We’ve seen red-breasted mergansers in the park before, but I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a pair together there, so here might be our first one.
The bigger surprise for me, however, was finding a pair of buffleheads at this late date. Sadly, they didn’t bunch up as nicely as the mergansers, so here’s the drake on his own, and the hen is just out of frame.
We’ve already seen blue-winged teals this year, but these are our first for the month. They did bunch up better than the buffleheads, but my long lens has a very short depth of field, especially when wide open on a dark morning like we had today, so I had to pick one or the other to be in focus, and the drake won out again.
We haven’t seen deer in Estabrook since February, so this cutie with a long tongue was a real treat.
Finally, today’s new bird for the year is this female rusty blackbird. Woo hoo! She was foraging in the lawn near the beer garden with a couple of males, but they’re jet black, so even harder to photograph in the dim light. Maybe they’ll stick around until the sun comes out so we can really see how pretty they be in the right light.
Tomorrow morning is supposed to be colder, windier, drier, but just as cloudy, so who knows what we’ll get to see. I’ll keep you posted.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 