Our mellow October days may be numbered…

Despite threats of a wind out of the northwest, our stretch of beautiful weather continued this morning in Estabrook Park. I didn’t have as much time as I usually do to enjoy it, however, because I had someone coming to give our boiler its annual checkup, and they expected to arrive “between nine and noon,” which is a lot better than “during the day.”

Anyway, my rusty blackbirds are still on backorder, and there was nobody else new at the river, so on my second visit to the pond, this mallard drake was looking pretty good, now that he’s all done molting, and parked in that warm morning sun.

The grebe was still there, and still being picky about where it floats, but at least now there are fallen leaves on the water to liven things up.

The wood ducks have not taken off yet, either, and here’s a handsome couple showing off their own fresh fall feathers.

As I went to check on the river one last time, I found a Cooper’s hawk again, and this time I could move to give it a better background.

Finally, the hermit thrushes this fall are as thick as I’ve ever seen them, and this one was giving me plenty of good looks, and when I tried just a couple of steps closer, it magically produced that red berry, gulped it down, and promptly disappeared.

Lastly, I see we’re finally in for a change back to fall weather tomorrow morning: mostly cloudy skies, a breeze out of the north, and much cooler air. Maybe that’ll shake those blackbirds loose for us.