Two surprises and even a minor miracle

The skies look pretty clear, if hazy, now as I write this at my dining room table, but they were plenty grey earlier this morning when I ventured into Estabrook Park.

The first big surprise came early when I spotted this majestic red-tailed hawk right on the lawn across the parkway from the soccer fields. My guess is that it was probably after one of the many nice and plump grey squirrels that have been busily burying acorns recently.

From the lawn, it flew into the tree line it had been staring at, but it must not have found what it was hoping to catch, and soon flew back out to perch on this street light for just a moment before heading west towards the river.

The wood ducks and one great blue heron were at the pond again, but I didn’t see raccoons or anything else new so I continued on to the river. There I spotted a big bird over the southern island, and I thought it was the young eagle from Wednesday again but upon closer inspection, I see now that it is another red-tailed hawk with slightly browner coloration. I don’t believe I’ve seen two in one day since the pair courting over the far side of the river back in February 2022.

The next big surprise was this American coot out on the river between the islands at the north end. The last time we saw a coot in Estabrook was back in April.

We still have sandpipers, and I saw three today, two spotted and this one darling solitary.

On my way back south, I came across this male goldfinch who appears to be halfway through his molt. Ugh. Imagine having to go out of the house looking like that because you’ve gotta get your own breakfast, and you don’t even live in a house anyway.

Finally, at the south end, I thought I spotted one of the white-throated sparrows I’ve been hearing and glimpsing recently, but no, it turns out to be a white-crowned sparrow instead. See the peak at the back of its head?

Right around the corner, however, there really was one of those white-throated sparrows, with its bright white throat, yellow eyebrow patches, and nice round head.

Even better, here they are together! Just to be clear, the white-throated is on the left, and the white-crowned is on the right. I believe this is the first time I’ve managed to capture both in the same image and both reasonably close to being in focus. Miracles do happen.