It was cool, cloudy, and breezy this morning in Estabrook Park, so perfect weather for a Memorial Day cookout or campout, as I remember it. At least it wasn’t raining, yet.
We didn’t have an eagle visit us this year to celebrate the occasion, as we did last year, but I was still happy to see a peregrine falcon trying out the new raptor tree over the northern island in the river.
Meanwhile, the mallard hen and her duckling continue to do well, and they were both taking advantage of a good morning for sleeping in when I spotted them. You can just see the duckling tucked up on Mom’s right side.
The sky looked nice and clear as dawn broke, but a thick blanket of clouds rolled in before the sun could even clear the horizon. Ah well. It is Memorial Day weekend, after all, and this is pretty much par for the course, in my experience.
In keeping with the mood, things were pretty quiet in Estabrook Park as well. I did see all eight ducklings on the pond, but the mallards were up in the tall grass, and I didn’t want to bother them, so here’s the tightest grouping of wood ducks I could manage.
The big surprise this morning came as I tried to look upriver for barn swallows hunting for flies from the Port Washington Bridge. A large bird was coming down river over our shore, and at first I thought it was just another of the many gulls in the air, but as it flew right over me, I could see that it was no gull. As luck would have it, it perched on the remaining big dead tree over the northern island where I could finally recognize it as an osprey. We haven’t seen one since April, and they are always a treat.
The current forecast for the big day is much better than today, but who knows what we’ll see.
The river was up nearly a foot, and things were plenty wet, but those are about all the indications of the heavy storms that rolled through yesterday afternoon. The sun was shining this morning, and the breeze was light, so it was a very nice start to the holiday weekend in Estabrook Park.
Even a kingfisher was back, and I couldn’t tell which one this is, but here it is racing off with a fresh catch after some red-winged blackbirds took exception.
The bluebirds were back, too, but they were trying to dry off, so didn’t want any pictures today. I didn’t see anything to show you at the north end, either, so I went back to the pond and found the wood ducks all in a row.
Finally, as I cut across the baseball field, I found a pair of killdeer on the flooded infield, which might be the closest thing to an exposed sandbar that they could find today, now that everything on the river is submerged again.
It was a nice-enough morning in Estabrook Park, but it appears that most of the resident critters have already split for the Memorial Day weekend. Thus, I am sorry to say that there was no sign of either the mallard or wood duck ducklings on the pond, and the bluebirds were not in the usual spot. All I could find were a few stragglers.
Here’s an eastern cottontail just before it started hopping down that bunny trail.
And here’s a wild turkey, which some of you may have in your own backyards right now, but we don’t get to see very often in the park.
There were still a few warblers in the trees and bushes, but with my backup lens, I don’t have much hope of getting any pictures for you. I did receive word that my good lens has arrived at the service center, so here’s hoping they can fix it up quick and send it back here soon.
The fine weather has returned to Estabrook Park, at least for this morning, and it was a great time to visit, but let’s cut right to the main event, which I only saw on my second visit to the pond: seven brand-new and vigorous wood duck ducklings. Woo Hoo!
The mallard hen with her duckling was still there, and even up on the west lawn again, but we’ve seen a lot of them lately, so let’s skip to the bigger sight, also at the pond: our first female belted kingfisher of the year. Hurray!
Finally, I saw two monarchs and a tiger swallowtail this morning, but all three were too busy for pictures. I also saw at least four of these little ones, summer azures(Celastrina neglecta), and this one was willing to sit still for 1/125 of a second. They are a lot bluer on the inside/topside of their wings, but good luck getting that picture.
Wowzah! The wind sure is blowing in Estabrook Park this morning. Fortunately for this project, critters be hungry anyway, so there were still some sights to see. Once I sat down to seem less of a threat, the mallard hen and her duckling on the pond came over for their daily picture.
While I was sitting there, this guy came up on the lawn, waddled around behind me, and just parked there. I wonder what he wanted.
Happily, I took that picture and turned around in time to catch this action back on the water. “Soon enough, little cutie, soon enough.”
Meanwhile, this wood duck couple might be scouting nesting locations. There is a nesting box mounted on the island, but I don’t know if they use it.
After the pond, I headed over to the river and was dismayed to find the “raptor tree” on the northern island had succumbed to the high winds last night. Over the years, we have seen it provide perches for bald eagles, osprey, red-tailed hawks, Cooper’s hawks, merlins, peregrine falcons, great blue herons, great egrets, and belted kingfishers. There is another big dead tree on the island, and it is not as prominent, but I sure hope the birds find it to be as attractive.
In happier news, back on our shore, this robin was keeping her eggs warm.
While just a little farther inland, this grey squirrel was munching on grass seeds from the safety of a maple tree branch.
Lastly, as I searched in vain for a spotted sandpipers on the river, I glimpsed some turkey vultures drifting overhead, and as I counted for swallows hunting over the water, the crowd of turkey vultures eventually grew to eight (8!). I’ve seen similar groups in Connecticut, and the skies over the Amazon would have dozens at once, but this is the first time I’ve seen so many over Estabrook Park. If it’s an omen, I sure hope it’s a good one.
The fog in Estabrook Park this morning was as thick as pea soup. It was foggy before dawn, and it has lifted a bit, but it is still foggy as I write this. On top of that, I finally broke down and sent my good lens in for service yesterday. It has been acting up lately, and I got tired of missing shots while it struggled to get up to speed. So, now I’m stuck using a shorter, backup lens, and you shouldn’t get your hopes up! At least it didn’t rain this morning.
I waited for enough sunlight to seep through the fog, so by the time I reached the pond, the mallard hen and her duckling were already done with breakfast and were doing a little preening before starting their naps.
Leave it to the bluebirds to choose today to finally pose together, right? Oh well. They’re still pretty birds.
When I reached the river, I could barely see across, but if you look closely, you can see two great blue herons perched on a branch over the far shore. Yeah, it was that foggy.
Here they are again after Adobe Lightroom tried its best to “dehaze” the image.
Later, on my way back south after visiting the north end, the fog had lifted a bit by the time I found one of them on our side of the river.
Finally, at the far south end, I found a chipmunk on a tree trunk at about eye level, which I seldom get to see. They are in the ground squirreltribe of rodents, after all.
That’s it for today, I’m afraid, but since I’ve got a little room left, I can finally show you the amazing pictures that Tom, the mink whisperer, was kind enough to send me. He was watching a female, red-bellied woodpecker forage on the trunk of a dead tree when she reached under a flap of loose bark and pulled out a bat. Can you even believe it!?!?!
She dragged the poor little thing all the way out, and I don’t believe it ended well for the bat. Man, those woodpeckers are fiercer predators than I realized.
At the breakfast table this morning, Anne and I saw the chance of precipitation below 20% through 10am. By the time we headed out at 5:40, it had jumped up to 78% for 7am, but the radar forecast looked like it might just miss us. Well, by the time I got to the pond, the radar showed an angry red wall fixin’ to wash over us. Happily, Anne was able to ride her bike back home before the worst hit us, and I waited out the downpour under the little entrance way on the maintenance building in the park. Thus, I did not get many pictures today.
When the rain finally wrapped up, and the sun threatened to poke through the clouds, I stopped by the pond again on my way home, and I found the mallard hen and her duckling back to business as usual, as if nothing had even happened.
It was another super nice morning in Estabrook Park, with slightly warmer temps and a little bit more of a breeze. The critters might have been worn out from the big day yesterday, I sure know I was, but we all did our best anyway.
I saw three sandpipers on the river, along with a killdeer, and I thought the sandpipers were all spotted until I got a good look at the one picture I took. This cutie turns out to be a solitary sandpiper, whom we haven’t seen in a while. I’d better start paying more attention!
Back up on the bluff, I found the male bluebird on the wire again, and his behavior suggests that he’s getting used to my shenanigans, even if the expression on his face doesn’t.
I stopped by the pond, and even waited by the flowering bush, in hopes of seeing the hummingbird again, but it didn’t arrive before my patience ran out, so here’s one more picture from yesterday.
While I was waiting for the hummingbird, I watched this female house sparrow doing her best hummingbird imitation as it was snatching something from or near the water surface. I did not know that they could do that.
Here she is posing for the camera.
Meanwhile, the mallard hen and her duckling were enjoying their naps in the warm morning sun.
Today was the third annual Pollinator Palooza in Estabrook Park, and they could not have had a better day for it. It started out cool, but it warmed up quickly, the breeze has been light, and the skies have not been cloudy all day. In the past, they have had Charles Hagner lead bird walks in the morning, but Mr. Hagner couldn’t make it today, so they asked me to fill in, and, except for me arriving late for the 9:30 walk because I thought it started at 10 am, I don’t think it went half bad. We had no injuries, and I’m pretty sure we didn’t lose anybody.
The 6:30 group started right on time and got to see a blackburnian warbler right off the bat, seen here being all coy with my camera, …
the mallard hen and her duckling, wood ducks, one of which is up in a tree here, and a slew of other birds.
A family of four had to hit the road right at 7:30, but a couple of sharp-eyed guys had the time to keep looking, so we went north along the river and saw a green heron, …
the first warbling vireo that let me capture an image good enough for me to use as a positive ID, …
and a great horned owl being mobbed by crows on the west side of the southern island. Man, I’d hate to be on the business end of those talons, right?
The 9:30 group, which was kind enough to wait for me to drag my butt to the start at 9:55, included three subscribers to this blog and got to see a ruby-throated hummingbird by the pond, …
which even perched for a second if we failed to capture it in flight, …
a baby snapping turtle gobbling up polliwogs in the river, …
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 