Some birds come and some birds go.

The recent beautiful weather continues, and it was another wonderful morning to be in Estabrook Park. Our wood duck drake continues to float around the pond, and I took a picture on my first visit today because sometimes he’s gone into hiding when I come by again later.

I didn’t see our hooded merganser on the pond, during either visit, for the first time since November 2. I hear that “birds have wings”, so for them, it is often “easy come, easy go.” And speaking of coming and going, look whoo-wh’HOO-whoo-whoo’s back at the river again. Yay!

The north end was quiet again, but on my way back south, this little red squirrel was in a noisy dispute with a neighbor. I read that “red squirrels are highly territorial and asocial with very few non-reproductive physical interactions,” so that fits.

Back at the falls, one of the three great blue herons I saw today was fishing again.

On the path back from the river to the pond, I spotted this rotund little bird, and I thought it was another late-season hermit thrush, but upon closer inspection, that beak clearly makes it a fox sparrow instead.

That’s it for Estabrook today, but yesterday afternoon was so nice, I stopped by the lake front on my way to campus, and I was thrilled to spot this mystery bird far offshore. The dark plumage and white spot behind the eye suggest that it is either a female harlequin duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) or a female surf scooter (Melanitta perspicillata), I believe, and either one would be a first for me, but I’m going with harlequin. Woo hoo!

While I was trying to get the best picture I could of the duck, this red-tailed hawk was trying to find some lunch.

Further down the lake shore, there were a couple dozen American coots diving for their lunches.

And finally, on my way back north, when I checked to see if I might get a better picture of the mystery bird, I found a couple dozen buffleheads, and this one drake let me have the best picture of the bunch.