Busy, busy morning on the pond, despite the frost on the grass! Maybe everyone’s trying to fill up and find a good place to wait out the snow forecast for tomorrow.
First up, the new guests. I had heard reports that blue-winged teals had been spotted, but I haven’t had the pleasure myself until this morning.
Also, the male hooded merganser was back, in place of the male red-breasted merganser who’d been around regularly for weeks. Along with the canada geese pair, mallard bachelors (plus a new female with a lot to say), wood duck pairs, and still the little pied-billed grebe, there were over a dozen birds from 6 species on the 1-acre pond this morning!
And that’s not all. The male red-winged blackbird finally posed for a picture, as did a female purple finch, and I spotted and got a not bad picture of a male northern flicker.
He would have looked magnificent if the sun had been out, and man oh man, they are shy.
Meanwhile, over by the river, there was no sign of Chet at his duplex. I just don’t know what’s up with that guy.
As always, I try to curate the best of my pictures on flickr at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewdressel/albums/72157713703616688
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 