Despite the forecast, the sun hardly showed its face at all in Estabrook this morning. It was cool, calm, and dry, however, so it was still a pretty good time to look for wildlife.
This first picture is quite dark, because I took it at 5:15 am, and the streetlights might have still been on, but if you look closely, you’ll see a pair of eyes staring right back at you. In case you don’t recognize them, they belong to the first screech-owl we’ve seen in the park in a long time, and if it weren’t for the robins loudly urging it to find a different tree, we probably wouldn’t have seen it at all. “Thanks, guys! And welcome back, Sweetie!”
The next big surprise was finding the three amigos again, and this time they were in the river just upstream of where the falls used to be. I took this picture from the boardwalk.
By then a small gap had opened in the clouds, and it let the sun light up this great blue heron perched over the far riverbank quite nicely. The gap closed right back up soon after that.
I saw most of the usual suspects around the islands at the north end, including the fawn and its mom, but the next sight that I thought might make a nice picture for today’s post was this young-looking rabbit right beside the paved path as I made my way back south.
The common yellowthroat was still singing in his usual spot, but he kept out of sight this morning, so we’ll just have to make do with this green heron perched over the far riverbank near the abandoned bridge abutments.
There were plenty of ducklings around, but they were all moving too quickly for the light I had to work with, so here’s a batch of teenagers from yesterday morning when conditions were more favorable. And lest you worry, Mom was just out of the frame to the left, and keeping close tabs on things.
Finally, it was too cool for most bugs to be active, so I didn’t see much in the way of butterflies or dragonflies, but as I made my way across the southern parking lot, this male goldfinch rose to the moment and provided a nice dash of color to wrap things up for us. “Thanks, Buddy!”
The forecast for tomorrow looks quite similar to today’s, but from what I hear, we’d better enjoy the cool air while it lasts because it’s not supposed to last for much longer.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 