The weather this morning in Estabrook Park was similar to yesterday, but a little colder and a little less windy, which is a trade I’ll make any day, especially when the sky is clear. My hike upstream along the river was pleasant but uneventful, and when I climbed up onto the bluff at the beer garden, a kind passerby alerted me to an eastern bluebird just a bit farther north.
We had heard one yesterday, but we could not get eyes on it, and I didn’t want to miss it again, so I hustled right over there. I did spot it right away, hurray, and I did take a safety picture, just in case, but before I could get a portrait lined up, this darling yellow-bellied sapsucker presented a shot I just couldn’t pass up.
Then, I was back to the bluebird, but once again, I got an offer I couldn’t refuse when this kestrel, our first of the year in Estabrook, flew across the field to the big oak tree between the playground and the beer garden. I had to get south of it, of course, so the light would be good, and that’s when I discovered that it was busily defeathering some small bird it had just caught. If you zoom in (click on the image to view it in flickr), you can see it has a beak full of feathers. The reason it is looking upwards, instead of at me, is because the top of the tree is full of grackles that appeared to have opinions to share about raptors consuming songbirds in their neighborhood.
Anyway, I eventually returned to the bluebird, and I thanked my lucky stars that it must have found the hunting good enough just where it was, because it was still there after all those distractions. So, here it is, our first eastern bluebird of the year in Estabrook. “Good morning, Beautiful!”
With that finally handled, I continued on to the islands in the river, but I couldn’t find any of our winter visitors today. Instead, the most exciting sight was another flight of cormorants heading to the lake.
Back on shore, and a lot closer to the ground, one of the half-dozen winter wrens I’ve been hearing or glimpsing throughout the park finally relented and let us get a real nice look at it. “Hello, you feisty little cutie!”
At the pond, I was a little relieved to finally see some dark-eyed juncos, which I had begun to fear had all flown north for the summer.
Lastly, the hermit thrushes are as thick as ever right now, and here’s one, but soon they will be outnumbered by Swainson’s thrushes. Thus, as with the juncos and winter wrens, we’d better enjoy them while they’re here.
It appears that our weather rollercoaster is heading next towards another another windy, cloudy, and possibly rainy morning, but at least it will be warmer that today, so that’s something, I guess.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 