The wind was brisk out of the ESE this morning, so right off of Lake Michigan, and it felt like it. The cold snap was not slowing down this maple tree, however.
The 5 recent regulars were on the pond, the goose couple, the mallard couple, and the solo gadwall hen, but there was nobody new, so I let them be and headed over to the river, which is starting to recede a little bit, and so is not quite as brown and furious as it was last week.
Most of the ducks we’ve been seeing there in recent weeks appear to have moved on, and those left are mostly Canada geese and mallards now. I did spot a few outliers, and got all excited, but it turns out they are just a quartet of goldeneye hens and one greater scaup hen. None were diving, so that threw me off.
common goldeneye hens 
great scaup hen
The one newcomer I did spot is this fascinating yellow mallard hen. I have a hope that she is the yellow mallard duckling we saw last summer all grown up now. Wouldn’t that be fun.
She was sticking pretty close to a mallard drake, so despite her colloration, I presume she identifies as mallard.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 