The clear skies continue, the temps are starting to warm, and the breeze has picked up just a bit, so it was another beautiful morning in Estabrook Park.
The big surprise for me today was finding this pair of Canada geese atop the abandoned bridge abutment at the far riverbank and a bit below the falls, as though they are Egyptian geese in South Holland or something. They seemed to be conversing with another pair on the water in the blue hole right behind them, but I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying.
Just a little farther upstream, this white breasted nuthatch was busily foraging for breakfast, and I was happy that one in a dozen pictures was presentable.
As usual lately, there was not much to report from the north end, so I proceeded to the pond, where I found our wood duck drake still waiting for the hens to arrive.
Instead of hooded mergansers, he was joined this morning by a solo red-breasted merganser drake, who also managed to catch a fish, but not a goldfish this time.
Once he succeeded in choking it down, he enjoyed a quick, celebratory bath.
Finally, the dark-eyed juncos may have begun moving north because I didn’t see a single one at the pond, and only stumbled upon this single bird on my way home. According to ebird, we usually see them well into April, but with the red-winged blackbirds and common grackles showing up nearly a month early, perhaps the juncos are also changing their schedule.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 