Fresh snow at last.

The snow did arrive overnight, and the clouds cleared out by the time the sun came up, so Estabrook looked like a winter wonderland.

The first sight to great me was a couple pairs of goldeneyes and a common merganser hen all diving together. Here is one of the goldeneye couples, …

And here’s the common merganser.

At the north edge of the open water, I could see about a dozen mallards, I could hear and caught a glimpse of a kingfisher, but not enough to know if it was our regular female or the newly-arrived male, and I found our gadwall drake taking a break from dabbling on the fresh thin blanket of snow.

A bit further north, over the grassy field, I found this female red-bellied woodpecker hard at work on excavating a nesting cavity.

Just what is wrong with this one or any of the others that the males have been shilling all winter, she didn’t say.

At the little bit of open water remaining around the falls, I found this pair of mallards who were perfecting their synchronized dabbling.

I didn’t see anything at the north end except a few little birds who had no time for me today. Instead, on my way back south, I found this gray squirrel intently gnawing on a nut.

Lastly, here’s a goldfinch sampling the snow.

The forecast is for even more snow tonight, so I can’t wait to see what tomorrow looks like.