Winter arrives at last in Estabrook Park.

We finally got some real snow, despite the best efforts of the warm Lake Michigan water directly to our east. Between waiting for the snow to move out, playing with the visiting grandson with the Erector Set my mom and dad gave me for Christmas 100 years ago, and then shoveling the driveway so said grandson could attend a birthday party, I can’t believe I managed to fit in a visit to Estabrook Park.

Happily, the critters seemed distracted enough by the change in weather that I managed to capture a few images. Here’s a male northern cardinal by the pond.

And here’s a flock of house finches, with one mourning dove in the mix, a few steps north.

At the risk of overdoing it with mourning doves lately, here’s one showing off some pretty blue tail feathers that I have not noticed before.

Finally, as far as the pond is concerned, here’s a soaking wet male house sparrow, which I would normally skip, but who looks quite interesting when soaking wet, and who makes me wonder how he got soaking wet.

At the river, the two great horned owls were in their usual spots, but this one wasn’t too hidden.

Lastly, at the north end, there were nearly a dozen common mergansers, but they stayed near the far shore, so here’s a friendly robin willing to pose right overhead.