I know it’s late, but I spent a lot of time on campus today, so now is when I can get to this. This morning started out pretty nice. Sure, it was warm and humid, but the air was very still, and the clouds weren’t too thick, so I was able to reach the pond in time to catch this green heron just chillaxing on a log in the middle.
At the river, I found this darling little hooded merganser fishing amongst the mallards right above what’s left of the falls. It appears as though something has gone wrong with its bottom bill, and I can’t tell if that’s from an injury or if it came out of its shell like that, but I did watch it catch and eat a crayfish, so it seems unphased by the situation. “Good luck, Kiddo!”
Farther upstream, as I was counting the mallards again, in hopes of spotting more odd ducks, suddenly everyone bolted for cover, and the cause of all that excitement soon drifted over. It was a very dark, young bald eagle, and it continued down river on the far side of the island, so I just watched it go. Before I could get back to the mallards, however, there was suddenly another enormous dark bird in the sky. They circled each other a couple of times, often disappearing behind trees, and at least one appeared to be a vulture, but before I gave up hoping for a photo opportunity the eagle took a perch right in front of me. The dark plumage and beak suggest that it hatched just this summer. “Welcome to Estabrook, Handsome!”
I couldn’t see where the vulture(s) had gone, so after I got the best eagle shot I thought I could, I turned around in time to get this belted kingfisher hiding coyly behind a leaf.
As soon as I had my kingfisher picture, look who landed right between the two previous birds. Ha! I haven’t been able to show you a turkey vulture in Estabrook since April of 2025! “Glad to see you again, Your Grace.”
Then the clouds got dark, the wind picked up, I hustled home, and I just barely made it before the skies opened up. Phew!
Finally, I had no time for butterfly pictures today, but to add a little color, here’s a monarch on a purple cone flower at the pollinator garden yesterday.
Lastly, the experts did agree with my identification of that Connecticut warbler in Estabrook Park yesterday, so that’s our thirtieth warbler. Hip, hip, hurray!
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 