Not who I expected to see…

It has mostly clouded up by now, lunch time, but the skies were pretty clear, and the wind was calm again in Estabrook Park earlier today, so it was another in a nice string of gorgeous mornings. The critters seemed to be continuing their boycott, and I was composing a long list of excuses in my head, until I started making my way home from the pond.

The one picture I did manage to get before then was of this white-breasted nuthatch showing off a breakfast morsel before flitting to its nesting cavity nearby. Sweetpea’s got mouths to feed.

There is still no sign of the dozen ducklings we saw on the pond Monday, but I was relieved to find the five on the river back in action after a few days out of sight, and here are a couple of the little adorables with their mom.

The youngsters are a little hungrier, bolder, oblivious, or some combinations of the above, and they came closer than Mom dared.

At the southern soccer fields, the kingbirds had moved on, and this olive-sided flycatcher had taken their place, although it kept to a much higher perch.

As I was working on the flycatcher picture above, I started to hear a familiar but unexpected call, and I was thrilled that I was able to get eyes on the singer, this astounding male scarlet tanager. I had figured that they’d all flown north already, but I was clearly mistaken. It’s a long way from South America after all.

Even better, he wasn’t alone, and here’s a female who looks quite interested in his song.

Finally, as I made my way across the fields to exit the park, I spotted another surprise, this snowberry clearwing moth. I read that they hibernate as pupae, so this one should have recently emerged, despite its rough appearance, and I don’t believe I’ve ever seen one before the bee balm blossoms in mid-July.

So, stragglers are still heading north, while some frontrunners appear to be a month ahead of schedule, and the most likely explanation is that there are always stragglers and frontrunners, but I just don’t often see them both on the same day. Tune in tomorrow to see what surprises I stumble upon next.