The beautiful blue skies are gone, along with the mild temperatures, and it feels like winter is back. On the lower river, I saw most of our old friends: the kingfisher, the common mergansers, the hooded merganser hen, the pair of goldeneyes, and the gadwall drake. It was pretty dark still, however, so I just said “hi” and pressed on up the trail.
At the grassy field, I saw our new favorite huntress, the kestrel, on the east side again, the sky had lighten up a bit, and so here she is.
At the north end of the field, I finally caught our trio of gray squirrels in their den again, and one stayed in the entrance way once the other two were out, as before.
Above the falls, I was glad to see our bufflehead pair back on the river and together again.
There was also a herring gull, who appeared to take a bath, and here it is between dips.
At the far north end, there was a quartet of crows cawing away, and I had a hope they were excited about a raptor in the vicinity, but that was not the case. Instead, they just seemed to be excited about something out on the ice.
That’s it for today, but I’ve still got some red squirrel pictures from a couple of days ago that you haven’t seen yet.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 