Rained on, but not washed out…

The weather in Estabrook Park this morning was wetter than I expected, and we had no visitors for our weekly wildlife walk, but that’s probably because everyone else had the good sense to check the current radar before they headed out.

Luckily, it wasn’t all rain all the time, and I was able to take the rain cover off my camera by about 8:30, which was just in time to catch this mallard hen with three of her nine ducklings in the river beside the upstream island.

The big surprise at the river today was capturing this female belted kingfisher on film for the first time since April. I suspect that we don’t have a pair nesting in the island, for the first time since I’ve been keeping track, probably because of the crazy wet April we had. They nest in a burrow they dig into the side of a bank, and perhaps the soil was too soggy, or the water was too high, and they opted to dig elsewhere. Anyway, it’s great to see one, even if it’s just for a visit. Right, Lois?

As the morning warmed up, the bugs started to stir, and here’s one of several northern crescent butterflies that were flitting from perch to perch in the meadow beside the river at the north end, which remains blissfully unmowed, for now.

Back at the south end, this interesting looking character caught my eye as it flew in to cling to that grass stem. It’s a red soldier beetle (Cantharis rufa), and I’ve seen them before, but none have ever posed quite so photogenically as this one did.

Finally, I don’t know if this is the same doe or not that we saw mixing it up with a pair of coyotes, but she sure was enjoying a more peaceful scene today.

Lastly, the Friends of Estabrook Park will be holding their first picnic of the summer at the beer garden tomorrow afternoon from 5:00 to 7:30, and I plan to be there, so come on out to meet the crew. “Bring some food or buy some there, some members might even bring some sweets to share. As always, members enjoy free beer at the picnic, [and] feel free to bring new friends! We are usually seated in the southeast corner” of the beer garden.