The skies have been cloudy and dark all morning, but the air is calm and not too cool, so it was not the worst weather for a visit to Estabrook Park.

At the pond, I saw three wood duck hens, but only one had ducklings, and here they are setting off to graze some more even before Mom is done with her break.

The mallard hen and her duckling were also grazing on my first visit.

A belted kingfisher was there, but it foiled all my attempts to get close enough for a picture with my current equipment, so I headed to the river. There was plenty to see at the river, but nothing I could capture in this low light, so I returned to the pond and took a seat on the bench to soak in all the action. The green heron was croaking again, and then there were two flying around, which was great to see.

The most interesting sight for me, however, was watching how the mallard hen dealt with some pesky drakes. When nipping at them wasn’t doing the job, she flew up onto the lawn right in front of me, called for her duckling, and eventually flew back to nudge it along. They then paddled over to the lawn together, hopped right up, and the duckling quickly settled down for a nap. The drakes kept their distance out on the water.

In a minute, Mom joined in the napping, and for all the world, it appears that she is using people as a drake deterrent. Fascinating, and no, I don’t have any idea what her age might be, but I think the title works better with “old” in it.

Finally, the one other bird that let me get close enough for a picture this morning was this grey catbird who had a song to sing.

and some days you’re the bug. Despite the nice, though a bit breezy, weather this morning, my luck went from red-hot yesterday to pretty darn cold this morning.

I did get to see the mallard duckling again, because it really wanted to forage through the detritus along the far edge of the paved path around the pond. After it scrambled back to the water when a dog and walker came through, it went right back to where it left off. I wonder what it is finding there. Must be yummy!

And the best Mom could do is keep and eye out and try to block traffic, which probably only worked on me.

The real saving grace, however, was coming across our first eastern tiger swallowtail of the season. I’ve been spotting them for a week or two, and there were actually two this morning chasing each other for a bit, but this one soon opted to just park in the sun for me. It even let me reach in and move a couple of branches that were casting shadows across it. If only more of my subjects would be so obliging.

Yesterday’s forecast did hold, and it was a beautiful morning in Estabrook Park. At the pond, I was able to find all three hens with their ducklings: the two mallards, …

the five wood ducks, …

and the seven wood ducks, which I believe were eight the last time we saw them. Boy, it’s been a tough spring for wood duck ducklings.

Also at the pond, a green heron was back and making a croak that sounded more like a frog than a bird. I know they have an unusual call, at all, but I don’t believe I’ve ever heard this sound before.

The pair of bluebirds were also back on their favorite perch, and here’s the male, looking as resplendent as ever.

At the river, dozens of cliff swallows, which appear to have nested under the eave on the south side of the Holiday Inn on Port Washington Road and have now fledged, were flying in and out from under the bridge, perhaps because the breeze was keeping the flies low, and I took at stab at getting a picture of one. Well, here is our very first image of a cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota), such as it is. That’s our fourth species of swallow in Estabrook, after the rough-winged, barn, and tree. Who knew, right?

On my walk back to the river after my second visit to the pond, I was stunned to watch this little beauty flutter across the trail right in front of me and perch not three feet away. I could not believe my luck, and this turns out to be our very first white-striped black moth (Trichodezia albovittata). Outstanding!

When I finally reached the river, this little cutie swam by, and at first, I thought it was a muskrat, based on its small size, but once I saw those ears, I knew it was a beaver.

On my way home I stopped by the pollinator garden, but nobody was home. Instead, a colleague pointed out our very first mourning cloak butterfly of the season, on the railing along the paved path just south of the garden. These have often been the first butterfly I see of the season, but not this year. Better late than never, right?

The skies are starting to clear now, but it was a very soggy morning in Estabrook Park. The forecast suggested a gap in the precipitation right after sunrise, however, so I hustled out the door, and my reward for getting out so early is spotting this Virginia opossum hurrying home after a night of foraging. This picture is surely nothing to write home about, but it is only the second image I’ve ever managed to capture of these amazing nocturnal marsupials in the park while still alive.

At the river, which is running quite high after all this rain, I was pleasantly surprised to spot this wood duck hen with her six ducklings. They might have been hatched here, or they could be the second set of ducklings from the pond, which I haven’t seen in a few days.

At the pond, I did see the wood duck with four ducklings, but they kept their distance today. The mallards, on the other hand, were far more obliging.

Finally, back at the river and at the north end, the last big surprise of the morning is this peregrine falcon on the remaining big dead tree over the northern island.

That’s it for today, I’m afraid, and I’m kinda surprised I even managed four semi-presentable images with all the dark skies and rain showers. Let’s all hope that the clear skies forecast for tomorrow morning come to pass.

After all the rain last night, it was still pretty cloudy this morning in Estabrook Park, but the air was nice and warm, and a lot of birds were up and about, although it took me a while to get any pictures. In the meantime, there were plenty of other, more-obliging critters taking advantage of the summer-like morning.

As I approached the north end, this chipmunk was sniffing a little tree up one side, …

and down the other, but I never did get to see what it was searching for. Maybe it is fresh out of the nest and just collecting experiences.

In the meadow, which once was a gravel parking lot by where the dam used to be, I found my second snake in the park ever, and it appears to be another DeKay’s brown snake, although this one is much darker than the first. By crazy coincidence, I also found my first snake skin in the grass right beside the brown snake, but the skin was from a much bigger serpent, perhaps a common garter.

At the other end of the meadow, there was another eastern question mark butterfly, and it turned out to be the only butterfly willing to hold still for the camera today, even if not in the most convenient location.

Out on the water, I finally spotted our first photo-worthy birds of the morning, this pair of great blue herons in the remaining big dead tree over the northern island.

The much bigger surprise, however, was hearing a brown thrasher overhead as I tried to take the heron picture. They are skittish birds, and I was only able to manage one other picture of a brown thrasher this spring, but man-oh-man, they are lovely singers.

On my way back to the pond, I came across this giant bullfrog parked in the outfield of the baseball diamond. By happy coincidence, my backup lens can focus on objects that are much closer than my main lens can, and this frog let me get that close, about two feet away, so if you click on the image and then zoom in, you can just make out my reflection in the frog’s pupil. I am the dark shape below and to the left of the bright spot, which is the reflection of the morning sun over my shoulder. Anyway, they were mowing the field, and the frog wasn’t moving, so I gave it a lift to the pond. It filled up my whole palm, and sat their placidly until we got close to the water, at which point it took off and did not want to be recaught

At the pond, the mallards were in their usual spot on the west lawn.

Meanwhile, the wood ducks were up on a log in the northeast bay and holding steady at four ducklings. You can just see the eye of the fourth one peeking out from behind the head of the one closest to Mom.

Finally, on the path back down to the river from the pond, I found this deer again, and she seemed pretty relaxed about the encounter, …

but she did eventually mosey into the brush to let me go past. “Thanks, Sweetie!”

So I got to see representatives from Mammalia, Aves, Reptilia, Amphibia, and Insecta, all just this morning. Woo Hoo!

I rode in the UPAF Ride for the Arts yesterday morning, including two trips over the Hoan Bridge and back, and then the rest of the day got away from me, so I never got to take pictures in Estabrook Park. Sorry about that. Happily, the nice weather continued into this morning, and I did manage a visit this time.

The mallard hen and her one duckling are still on the pond and were foraging along the path when I first arrived. I didn’t want to force them to retreat to the water, so I left them alone and was glad to find them taking a little break from grazing by the time I returned for a second visit.

I also saw a mallard hen on the river with four ducklings, and we might have seen them before, but I couldn’t get close enough for a picture this morning.

The wood duck hen who started with seven ducklings, and then had five for a while, appears to be down to just four, sadly, and I saw no sign of the second hen or her seven ducklings. Here’s one of the remaining four.

On the path from the pond down to the river, I found this red squirrel mom taking a break from nursing to grab some breakfast of her own.

While looking for monarch caterpillars on milkweed plants, I found these crane flies, perhaps ferruginous tiger crane flies (Nephrotoma ferruginea), instead

Finally, on my way out of the park, a colleague pointed out this red-belted bumble bee (Bombus rufocinctus), a first for me, sampling the Virginia waterleaf.

The high pressure system that gave us such great weather in Estabrook Park over the past few days has finally drifted off, and we’ve got thick clouds and imminent rain this morning.

On my way to the pond to check on the ducklings, I stopped by the river and found this family of Canada geese whose seven goslings are starting to show adult plumage already.

I did see the ducklings at the pond but skipped the pictures today and continued back to the river. As I sat for a moment to see who I could find, look who just happened to swim by. The last beaver we saw was a lot farther south and back at the start of May. I’m glad to know they’re still around.

The beautiful weather continued this morning in Estabrook Park, but it was even a bit cooler than yesterday and with some thin cirrus clouds up high to whiten the sky. When I arrived at the pond, I found the wood duck hen with her five, week-old ducklings.

As I was trying to get a decent wood duck picture and count the ducklings to make sure there were five, the mallard hen swam right over with her own duckling and hopped up on shore, as if I had something for them. “Sorry Sweeties, we shouldn’t feed wild ducks.” Even with my backup lens, though, I had to zoom out to fit them in the image!

On my way to the river, I spotted a bluebird again up on the wire, and we haven’t seen one in a while, so I detoured that way to see if I could capture an image. But first, this chickadee was almost begging me to take its picture.

Then, this deer came out of the wood at the crest of the bluff, and I couldn’t pass that up.

But then I finally reached the female bluebird. Thank goodness she waited for me. I didn’t see any sign of the male.

On my way back south after checking on the swallows under the bridge, I found the deer again.

On my second visit to the pond, I was able to confirm at last that there are indeed to wood duck hens with ducklings, and here’s the one with seven fresh ones. Not all seven are in the picture because at least two of them were busy chasing down whatever they could find on the surface of the water.

Finally, I stopped by the pollinator garden on my way home, and I captured our first of many monarch butterfly images for the season. It was sampling the nectar from what appears to be some species of wallflower (Erysimum).

The weather was gorgeous this morning in Estabrook Park, and the crystal-clear skies allowed me to start at 5:20 am and beat the rush. They also, along with the nearly still air, allowed radiant cooling to form frost on the clumps of dead grass left on the soccer fields from the last mowing.

The big surprise at the pond is that either I am losing my mind, which is a real possibility these days, or there is a fresh batch of seven wood duck ducklings. I didn’t actually see the group of five this morning, but these seven look smaller than the five we saw just yesterday. You can also see a little steam rising off the warm pond water into the cool morning air.

As the wood ducks hustled away, the mallard hen and her duckling calmly watched from the shore.

The next pleasant surprise was meeting a Canada goose up on shore at the north end, and better yet, as I gave it a nice wide berth on my way past, the rest of its family crested the lip of the riverbank to sample some of that grass.

Lastly, this indigo bunting chose to crow to the heavens from a branch so low that even my backup lens could almost reach it.

After the latest line of storms yesterday, the river was even higher this morning, but thankfully not as high as it was back at the beginning of April. Plus, the sun is out today, and it is shaping up to be a very nice day.

On my second visit to the pond, I was pleasantly surprised to find six Canada geese up on the west lawn. They have started to make themselves scarce now that nesting season is over, and I don’t get to see much of them these days. Anyway, I approached nice and slow, and they let me take a seat on the bench. Then, as I waited in hopes that the wood ducks would come over for a nice picture, this goose gave me a look that was hard to resist.

The wood duck hen and her ducklings did eventually swim over, perhaps feeling assured by the geese, and here they all are.

Back at the river, I found the great blue herons, who were absent from the north end, apparently trying a new location.

Finally, I realized this is yet another red admiral, and with a few pieces missing, plus dames rockets are invasive, but I didn’t see any monarchs or swallowtails today, so here’s the best butterfly picture I could manage.