The forecast rain never came this morning, but sheesh, it was dark! The street lights didn’t go off until 7am. Plus, I had an 8am meeting to attend, so I didn’t get into Estabrook Park until after 9am. What a difference nearly four hours makes!

I did get to see some nice sights, however, and the first one was this gorgeous autumn meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum), a first for us.

At the river, I was thrilled to spot a spiny softshell turtle in yet another new spot, and I couldn’t believe my luck that it let me get my best portrait yet of such a fascinating creature.

Here’s a zoom in for more detail.

This mourning dove probably watched me creeping through the bushes to get a clear shot at the turtle and then waited around to see what I would do next. “Why, take your picture, of course, Sweetie.”

Just upstream of the turtle and the dove, this tiny summer azure was sipping moisture from the sand.

Just below the falls, the dryad’s saddle we saw just Monday sure has grown!

In the meadow at the north end, there were a few of these very-dark skippers flitting about, and I eventually caught one sitting still for a moment. If my ID as a northern broken-dash (Polites egeremet) holds up, that will be another first for us and our 25th butterfly species photographed in the park.

On the gravel path through the meadow and under a mulberry tree, another chipmunk was literally “stuffing its face.”

Meanwhile, this red squirrel was watching from a tree branch and perhaps was hoping that the chipmunk would leave some mulberries for it.

The flowers they planted after removing the dam still manage to bloom, and here is a huge golden northern bumble bee (Bombus fervidus) sipping nectar from a newly opened bee balm blossom. I read that “workers typically search for food in the afternoon,” which might explain why I don’t believe I’ve ever seen one before.

Finally, here’s a male Baltimore oriole quietly perched in the birch tree above the thistles where we’ve seen indigo buntings, song sparrows, and house wrens all calling.

The pond was a bit crowded this morning when I arrived, so I kept right on going, but as I crossed the parkway, I finally got a chance to document this character. That’s a male red-winged blackbird with one leg, and I’ve been see him foraging on the west lawn and vigorously protecting his territory at the pond for weeks. That is one tough bird!

At the river, the beaver were keeping mostly out of sight again, and you can just see the eye of this one peeking over the log in the foreground, perhaps to see if I’ve left so everyone can come out to play.

There were fewer people at the pond during my second visit, but still plenty of birds, and here’s a great blue heron catching the first fish I believe I’ve seen caught this year.

Meanwhile, a green heron was probably hoping for the same success.

And, a female belted kingfisher finally let us get a nice look at her.

Back at the river, here’s a middling painted turtle, a large pond slider, and a light blue damselfly perched on its nose. There was even a second pond slider farther up the log, but I like the grouping of this trio. I did try moving to avoid the bit of grass hanging down across the damselfly, but they sure can be flighty things, and by then it had already moved.

At the soccer fields, I thought this might be the painted lady we saw on Sunday, but upon closer inspection, that little bit of a blue eye spot on the rear wing makes it an American lady instead.

I didn’t see much else there, so I checked the little open space beside the river at the far south end. There I found a nice female powdered dancer, …

my first red milkweed beetle (Tetraopes tetrophthalmus) of the season, …

a lot of delicious raspberries, …

and this “Wild Kingdom” scene of my very first eastern yellow-backed laphria (Laphria thoracica), a “bumble bee mimic robber fly,” doing in a honey bee it has just caught.

Finally, just as I was leaving Estabrook Park, I found a brand-new-looking buckeye.

It even gave us a glimpse of its less-extravagantly-marked under/out/ventral side.

The weather this morning in Estabrook Park was far better than forecast. Last evening, it looked like it was going to be a washout, but I didn’t feel a drop all morning, and there were even patches of blue in the sky.

There was no sign of the falcon this morning, and I even checked both towers with my binoculars in case it was just taking a break from calling. Instead, a great blue heron was just off the island in the pond and too busy fishing to worry about li’l ol’ me.

Meanwhile, one of the wood duck hens was preening on a log between the island and the west lawn, and kept tabs on me.

At the north end, I glimpsed a beaver in the river only for a moment, and no one was working on their front porch, but this green heron did fly over to the island to fish. It’s a treat to see both herons in the same morning.

On one of the dead trees right beside the river below the falls, a dryad’s saddle mushroom was still in its “pig’s nose stage, when the flesh is very tender.” Yum, for those of you who indulge.

Farther south along the river, I spotted my first pair of damselflies getting started on their complex and precisely choreographed mating process. These two appear to be stream bluets.

On my way back to the pond for a second look, I was saddened to see this raccoon seem to be in distress, walk in a tight circle for a minute, and then lie down on the ground and stop moving. I suspect it was suffering from distemper. If you have a dog, make sure to keep its vaccinations current.

When I reached the pond, I found that this painted turtle had triumphantly taken over the log on which the wood duck had preened earlier in the morning.

I had missed the bluebirds on my first trip from the pond to the river, and I had a few extra minutes, so I hiked over again, and found this beauty.

I my way home, I stopped by the thistles beside the soccer fields, as usual, and found this stunning Halloween pennant dragonfly posing perfectly.

At the opposite end of the patch, this damselfly, possibly our first blue-fronted dancer (Argia apicalis), despite the orange hue, which marks it as a female, was also soaking up the sun breaking through the clouds.

The only butterfly I could find this morning was this red admiral, of whom we’ve already seen a lot this year, but it was doing such a nice job of sticking out its tongue for the camera, I couldn’t resist.

Finally, there were a pair of barn swallows flying just over the grass of the soccer fields, and the light was pretty good at the moment, so I tried again to get a decent picture of a swallow in flight. This is a little better than the cliff swallow a month ago, but still plenty of room for improvement.

Lastly, remember that WordPress includes only a lower resolution image in the email copy of each post it sends you. If you want a closer look at any of the pictures, you will get much better results if you click on the image, which should take you to the full image on Flickr, where you can zoom into the full resolution of the original. Sorry it’s so complicated, but them’s the tools I’m stuck with, for now.

I really don’t know how the weather could have been any better this morning. The sky was clearer than yesterday, and I think Sunday morning car traffic might be lighter than Saturday mornings. How sweet it was.

As I approached the river, the quite was interrupted by the call of this peregrine falcon again, and I’ll take that interruption just about any day.

The beaver on the island seem to be getting more comfortable, or, as with my dad, the urge to keep busy is just too strong to ignore. I don’t know what this one was up to this morning, but it kept at it long after the sun was up and shining down on its front yard.

Just around the corner, a great blue heron was fishing in a new spot again.

On my way back south, just below the falls and down the bluff from the beer garden, these pretty little larkspur blossoms have opened. Perhaps they are (Delphinium carolinianum).

While cleaning up some leftover fishing tackle, I inadvertently stuck myself on a fishhook, so I popped into the beer garden to borrow their sink and a bit of soap to reduce my chance of infection. As luck would have it, look what magnificent creature I found in the drain! That is a reddish-brown stag beetle (Lucanus capreolus), it was over an inch long, and those pincers are not purely ornamental. I quickly fetched a little stick for it to grab onto, since I already had enough wounds for the morning, and set it out on the fence in the sun to dry off and make a nice picture.

I had just wrapped up with the beetle and glanced up to see this blue jay uncharacteristically ignoring me from barely ten feet away.

Earlier in the morning, I came across this ruby meadowhawk, which we haven’t seen in a while, but I didn’t want to lead this report with a bug.

Before the meadowhawk, I found this enormous leopard slug gliding across the path, which I usually see every summer but don’t always include in a report, and I really didn’t want to lead with a slug.

Finally, I didn’t see anyone new at the pollinator garden or the thistle patch beside the soccer fields, but I was glad to get a nice portrait of this painted lady, especially because I finally got around to reading Tuesday’s ScienceTimes yesterday, and it had an article about a bunch of painted ladies who appear to have flown across the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil from probably North Africa “without any place to stop and refuel.” Amazing!

What a nice morning we had in Estabrook today. The sky wasn’t perfectly clear, but the air was cool and still, and road traffic was light, so it was easy to forget that I was in an urban park for the couple of hours after sunrise.

My first treat for the morning was catching this cutie as it swam across the reflection of the early morning sun off the red brick building that supports the radio tower above the far riverbank. With a “hairdo” like that, you know its gotta be the hooded merganser that’s been with us for a couple of days now.

My second treat was laying eyes on this peregrine falcon enjoying its breakfast on a cross brace of the radio tower mentioned above. I’d been hearing it call for a few minutes as I approached the river, and I was holding my breath that I might catch a glimpse of it before it took off. Sometimes dreams do come true.

At the pond, another bird we love to see, this green heron, also tipped me off with its call.

Back at the river, at least one beaver emerged from the shadows, even if only for a minute.

Meanwhile, on our shore, in the meadow across from the northern island, a dew-bejeweled black swallowtail, our first of the season, held tight and waited for the day to dry it off. (That’s one image worth zooming in on, if I say so myself, and you are so inclined.)

On my way back south along the river, the house wren we saw yesterday seemed disappointed with the picture I took. The sky was grey, I wasn’t very close, and the hunch-backed look isn’t very flattering. Thus, here we are much closer with a nice blue sky and a much less extreme pose.

At the pollinator garden, some bee balm is beginning to open, but I haven’t seen any clearwings yet. Instead, here’s a brand new damselfly for us, a seemingly oxymoronically-named orange bluet (Enallagma signatum), which the Pedia of Wik helpfully explains “stands out from many other bluets because of its orange color.” As before, it seems to prefer sunning on the sun-block mat.

At the thistle patch beside the soccer fields, I managed to sneak one more monarch picture.

Finally, the goldfinches continue to enjoy the thistles that have gone to seed, and here’s a female digging into a bull or musk thistle blossom.

The weather was a bit unsettled this morning in Estabrook Park. First it rained, hard, which I waited out over breakfast, then the sun came out for a bit, and then it clouded back up. Oh well.

I saw the hooded merganser again, but it was in the same spot as before, so its picture would have looked the same as it did yesterday. Instead, the surprise at the river was this wood duck hen with four ducklings. Sure, you can only see two or maybe three in this image, but I like how they are nice and close together. Perhaps they started as the seven we saw on the first.

I didn’t see anyone notable again until the far north end. The cedar waxwings that like to hunt for bugs there seem to have gotten used to me coming by to check on the swallows because today they granted me this beautiful sight. I’ve known that they have a bright yellow tip on their tail, but I can’t remember seeing a bright red mark on their wings before.

On my way back south, I did see a great blue heron again, but no turtles or owls, and I thought the most interesting sight today was this spotted sandpiper on the far shore just below the falls. In previous years, when the river water was much lower, I’d be seeing them and killdeer on exposed parts of the river bottom, but this year the high water is making it a bit more of a trick to spot them.

I had barely taken the sandpiper picture when this mallard hen and her four ducklings steamed past.

At the top of the bluff, by the beer garden, I’ve been hearing a house wren for weeks, and this morning he was perched in a nice-enough spot, so here he is. Boy, he really throws his entire body into is song, doesn’t he?

Back at the pond, I was keeping off the bench to avoid forcing the mallards resting on the lawn into the water, so it was a pleasant surprise when the four wood ducks I’ve been seeing lately, three hens and the one remaining duckling from the first batches, all swam right over. First, I seldomly see them all together like this, and second, the duckling and its mom, the two hanging back, tend to be shyer than this.

Well, one of the hens has become quite bold, hopped up onto the lawn, and even shoed away a mallard or two as she strode around the lawn looking for treats. She eventually got quite close to me, even crossing the path to check behind me, as I just stood still, and here she is wondering where in heck is the food I brought her. As I’ve told them before, “sorry, Sweety, that’s some other old guy, not me.”

Anyway, a second hen joined her, though not quite as bold, and the mom and duckling seemed to loose their nerve a bit and drifted away from shore.

Anyway, I eventually had to move on, and I was a little disappointed to find no pretty butterflies or dragonflies today. Instead, here’s one of the goldfinches are starting to tear into the thistle blossoms that have already gone to seed.

The weather was about as perfect as I can imagine for a couple of hours in Estabrook Park this morning. The sky was clear and blue, the air was nearly still, and the temperature was 70°F. Plus, holiday traffic was very quiet that early. The critter traffic was also pretty quiet, however, and I didn’t get my first picture until I was checking on the swallows under the bridge at the far north end. There were a few cedar waxwings there, too, which we’ve seen before, and as I tried in vain to get one lined up for a picture, look who was busy digging her breakfast out from under the bark of a dead ash tree right behind them: a female hairy woodpecker.

The beaver were keeping in the deep shadows again, so I continued back south, and look who I found beside the path I had just come up not twenty minutes before: another mid-sized snapping turtle on the move.

They have such pretty eyes, …

fierce-looking claws, and …

cute little tails.

Just above the falls, a great blue heron was taking a sun bath.

Below the falls, near the abandoned bridge abutment, there was a commotion in the trees across the river. It wasn’t crows this time, but instead jays, grackles, blackbirds, and even robins joined in the fray. There must have been two to three dozen birds hopping from branch to branch and making a ruckus, all in an effort to get this great horned owl to move on, which it eventually did, but not before giving us a look with those big yellow eyes.

Back at the pond, it was time for the black bullhead fry to hatch, and this is just a small fraction of the entire school.

On my last pass by the river, I was pleasantly surprised to spot a young or female hooded merganser had stopped by. I wonder how long it will stick around.

Back up on the bluff, here’s a male common whitetail basking in the sun on the same railing I found one exactly three years ago.

Finally, at the weeds beside the soccer fields, I found a very green eastern pondhawk, so our first female, and …

one more buckeye, but up on a flower for a change.

It was a warm and muggy morning in Estabrook Park, but the forecast rain never arrived, and the sun eventually came out, so it was a fine morning for a visit after all. Plus, I suspect many folks were getting a jump on holiday travel, so traffic was pretty light in the park, which is always a treat.

I was happy to see a great blue heron back on the pond, but the green heron continues to elude me this month, or perhaps it has moved on for better fishing.

I glimpsed plenty of other birds, a couple of mammals, and even the snout of a snapping turtle, but I didn’t encounter any portrait opportunities until I was on my way back south after my second visit to the pond and I heard a woodpecker drumming. I checked the trees nearby without luck, but it kept drumming, and I eventually found the culprit, this male red-bellied woodpecker, on the gutter of the maintenance building. That gutter made a good drum.

I didn’t see anyone at the pollinator garden, but with the sun now out and the breeze still light, I knew it wouldn’t take long. Sure enough, barely 100 yards farther south, this tiny summer azure paused to soak up some of that sun.

The thistles beside the southern soccer fields were bustling, and here’s a clouded sulfur sulphur, …

a cabbage white making an interesting picture for a change, and …

our very first tawny emperor (Asterocampa clyton), close relative of the Hackberry emperor we first saw last summer, sipping moisture from the wet pavement.

Finally, there were also some dragonflies, and here’s our first Halloween pennant of the season.

Our streak of nice weather has broken, and it was quite a rainy morning in Estabrook Park. It wasn’t very cold, the winds were light, and there were some gaps in the rain, however, so I managed to sneak some pictures anyway.

The biggest surprise was spotting this eastern bluebird, whom we haven’t seen in a while. I sure am glad to know they are still around.

At the north end, I checked on the beaver again. They had slept in yesterday, or at least weren’t out on their front porch, but I did see this adult hiding in the shadows today. I’m as surprised as you might be to see that two-toned face, but we’re not the only ones to have seen such markings.

Finally, I don’t know if this is a separate set of ducklings on the pond, or if the seven we saw yesterday is down one already, but they did bunch up much better for the camera this morning.

That’s all I’ve got for today, I’m afraid, and I am a little surprised to have this much.

It was a perfect morning in Estabrook Park, with not a cloud in the sky and barely a breeze, and thus nice cool air. When I stopped by the river on my way to the pond, I counted a few mallards, a couple of geese, and nearly a dozen northern rough-winged swallows. Then I started to collect the fishing tackle left over from the weekend, and I nearly fell over when I glanced up and saw seven young-looking wood duck ducklings following their mom across the river to our side. Hot diggity dog! They are trying again.

After getting some pictures and taking a moment to look around for what else I had missed, I hiked up to the pond, and look who I found along the way.

At the pond, I counted a few mallards, a couple of wood duck hens, looked for the green heron, and started collecting fishing tackle left over from the weekend. When I glanced up, I could not believe my eyes, because there were seven more youngish-looking wood duck ducklings following their mom across the pond. Fantastic! They’ve doubled their odds.

After that, I took a moment to sit on the bench to see who else I might have missed. That’s when the female belted kingfisher perched over the near shore a couple dozen yards a way. She still looks soaking wet, but on a day like today, you know she’s soaked by choice, and she’ll be able to dry out pretty quickly.

I eventually continued to the north end, and spotted the great blue heron fishing on our side of the river.

At the bridges, the cliff and barn swallows continue to go about their business, and on my way back south, I stopped by the pond one more time in hopes of spotting the green heron. I had no luck with that, but instead I got to watch the single remaining and now nearly-grown wood duck duckling from the first batches wrestle with its mom over a tadpole she had caught. It’s tricky enough to get a good picture when they are just wrestling with the tadpole, but adding in another hungry duck meant that this picture was the best I could do. Mom’s got the tadpole in her bill just under water, and the duckling is just about to make another grab for it, but Mom won out in the end.

At the south end of the pond, I could hear one of the many fledglings around these days begging for food in a tree right overhead, and as I searched for it, this Baltimore oriole poked out of the leaves and stole the shot.

Once the oriole got what it was after and took off, I did find the little crier, and it appears to be a northern cardinal, based on its short and stout beak.

Continuing south, I stopped by the pollinator garden, and found this powdered dancer (Argia moesta), which I suspect we’ve seen before, but never in this detail. Oh, and it is posing on the mat they have put down to kill the sod grass before expanding the garden, in case you are wondering.

Just to the west of the dancer, also eschewing all the pretty flowers, I found this female blue dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis), which we have seen before, but only in the male form. If you click on the image and zoom in, you can see the individual lenses of its compound eye, especially in the bright spot on the left eye reflecting the sun. I’m not sure I’ve managed to pull that off before.

At the weeds beside the soccer fields, there was another buckeye warming itself in the sun.

There was a male widow skimmer, and perhaps only the third male I’ve ever seen.

Finally, I spotted another monarch, and like the buckeye, it appeared to be more hungry for warmth than sugar at the moment.

Lastly, I’m thrilled to report that someone, perhaps an angler thanking me for all my help with his gear, left me my first park beer of the year, and a fine one at that. What a nice way to start July. Thanks!