It was cool, windy, and cloudy this morning in Estabrook Park, but at least it wasn’t raining. When I saw this eastern cottontail, I thought it would make a nice picture for today, but it appeared to want no part of that, and this is the best it would let me have.
Meanwhile, this muskrat, just a bit upstream, made its best cute pose and let me take all the pictures I wanted, as if to ask, “what am I? Chopped liver? Why do rabbits, black cats, reindeer, and even groundhogs get to be holiday mascots, but muskrats get nuthin’? That just doesn’t seem fair.” The best reply I could think of was, “sorry, little buddy, but be careful what you wish for.”
A bit farther upstream, I was thrilled to capture a yellow-rumped warbler picture for you, at last. It’s no portrait, but it does show the three yellow patches: “rump”, side, and top of the head.
By the time I was making my way to the pond, the clouds were starting to break up, but I could find no sign of the rusty blackbirds today. Instead, these two male northern flickers were putting on their own show, and it appeared to be some kind of highly choreographed duel.
Here they are squared off again after a brief tussle, which I failed to capture, of course.
Anyway, the best treat of the morning, for me at least, was finally getting eyes on a female belted kingfisher. We’ve been seeing the male for a while, but without a female around, he might move on, and we could be stuck with no kingfishers for the summer. Heaven forfend!
Despite the beautiful blue sky we got this afternoon, the forecast for tomorrow morning looks like a return to the recent norm, but at least it’s not supposed to be below freezing nor raining, so come on out for our weekly wildlife walk and help me find the next new arrival.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 