Goldeneye!

Well, the snow I ordered did not arrive, I blame De Joy for that, and it has really warmed up, so the river trail surface has the consistency of butter than hasn’t felt the inside of a fridge in a week. Luckily for us, some parts are still serviceable, a helpful tip from eagle-eyed and long-time-reader Lou Miller enabled me to focus my searching this morning, and here’s what we’ve got to show for it: a very shy and aptly-named male common goldeneye (Bucephala clangula).

He’s a diving duck, at the north edge of his winter range, and, besides always drifting to the far side of the river so my image is not too clear, he was really good at always drifting opposite of the way I would step, either up or down stream. I even got him to sit still for a moment by faking left and then quickly right.

At one point, all the mallards took off, leaving him behind, and I couldn’t see the eagle that I suspect flushed them, but I bumped into a fellow observer later by the falls who had a camera, lens, and tripod that looked like they cost more than my bike, yikes!, who explained that the river being frozen over further north, in Lincoln Park, has pushed the eagles south to hunt over open water. Lucky us! Right?

Lastly, Mr. De Sisti was kind enough to reply yesterday and included both the black-and-white and the color originals of his amazing picture of a coyote, so feast your eyes on this!

What a magnificent creature, and thanks to the artist and gentleman for sharing, eh?