It helps to have more eyes on the skies.

It was cool and dark this morning in Estabrook Park, but the winds were light, and the clouds were holding their water, so not a bad time for a visit. Things were quiet, however, and I didn’t see anything remarkable at the pond or the river until a pair of crows alerted me to a bald eagle silently gliding south over the far riverbank.

I headed south after it, in hopes that it would perch somewhere, but I couldn’t find it in any of the usual spots, and I had pretty much given up on that idea when I started to hear grey squirrels giving their warning cry. It still took me a moment, but I eventually found it up nice and high where I might have missed it, so “Thanks, guys!” It was so high, in fact, that I thought I’d see if I could get a better shot from up on the bluff, and sure enough, here it is almost at eye level.

Then it noticed a feather that needed some attention, our photo shoot was over, and I continued on my way.

Almost as surprising as finding the eagle was spotting this hermit thrush out on the lawn right beside the paved path north of the beer garden.

And if finding one hermit thrush is unlikely, imagine finding two in quick succession! Sweet! They weren’t together either, though they may be acquainted. The second one was almost 500 yards down stream.

Just beyond the second hermit thrush, I found our red squirrel for the day, and it appears that I caught it with a mouth full of breakfast. “Sorry!”

Finally, spotting herons these days feels like spotting the elf on the shelf, and this one was a little bit downstream from yesterday’s and back on our side of the river.

I see they’ve brined our street, so I guess we’re expecting some snow, and maybe we’ll get a nice change of scenery for tomorrow morning.