It was one of those magical mornings when every footstep squeaks in the clean white snow packed firmly onto the path. If your trying to sneak up on something, you’d better step off into the deep soft stuff.
The lower river had most of the regulars, a few mallard pairs, a few female common mergansers, and the male goldeneye with three females.
Mallards dabbling 
Female common mergansers snoozing
Male common goldeneye keeping an eye on me 
Female common goldeneyes heading down river
Hoar frost had formed some pretty patterns on stems over a couple of seeps that emerge from the bluff and even on the ice covering the little stream that runs down from the pond.
I didn’t see a non-water bird until halfway to the falls, and was beginning to think that maybe it was just too cold for them to be active, but then a woodpecker and a few goldfinches gave some chirps to alert me to their activity. The woodpecker didn’t stick around, but this goldfinch was willing to sit still for a moment.
At the north end, this pair of mourning doves never budged from their branch in the sun.
By the pond, a couple of woodpeckers each had found something interesting enough to distract them from me. I could hear several red-bellied woodpeckers throughout the park, but could never spot one today.
Male downy 
Female hairy
Meanwhile, this little trio kept their eyeballs on me.
Dark-eyed junco 
House or purple finch 
Female norhtern cardinal
And finally, this little chickadee found something on that twig far more interesting.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 
The frost is so beautiful!
LikeLike