A few more sights from Connecticut.

Anne and I are back home safe and sound and thank you for all your well wishes. The weather forecast looks wonderful for tomorrow, so I can’t wait to get back into Estabrook Park to see what all the critters have been up to. Meanwhile, here are a few more pictures from yesterday in Connecticut that I didn’t have time to show you then, but I sure do now.

First off, here’s a red-tailed hawk perched high in a pine tree almost directly across West Main Street from the eastern bluebird I showed you yesterday.

The next big surprise, however, after the bluebird, was a quartet of black vultures kettling low over the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail. We don’t get to see them in Estabrook, but I see them pretty regularly in Connecticut, and here’s my best solo image,

and here’s my best group shot. I learned this trip that a better way to distinguish them in flight from the turkey vulture that we do see over Estabrook, is from their shorter, broader wings, and shorter tail, rather than trying to see if the skin on their face is red or black, since either of which will shine similarly in the sun.

A heck of a lot smaller, but no less a treat, was this golden-crowned kinglet, which are common in Estabrook, but not at this time of year. The last time I saw one here was back on December 4, and I didn’t even get a picture.

I am always thrilled to see a red-shouldered hawk over the old canal, and this time there were two talking to each other. They have been spotted in Estabrook, but I haven’t seen one here yet. They are not as common as red-tails, and the last reported sighting was spring of 2022.

Finally, I found a mockingbird willing to sit for a portrait in the warm morning sun, for a change. I haven’t seen one of these in Estabrook either, but given a sighting in 2021, it appears to be possible.