The recent weather I’ve been enjoying in Estabrook Park just keeps getting better! The wind speed this morning had slowed to just barely into double digits, but temps were low enough to bring the wind chill down to 0°F at sunrise, and the skies were crystal clear. Outstanding!
We still have belted kingfishers, if you can believe it, but they’re now frozen out of the pond and the water around the islands, where we’ve seen them all summer, and so here’s the female fishing over the far riverbank beside the shallow rapids far downstream of the falls.
With all that ice, I didn’t see anything but mallards and one herring gull at the north end today, but at the pond I found this beauty, a dark-eyed junco of the Oregon subspecies (Junco hyemalis oreganus), foraging in the leaves and grass beside the path. For comparison, I had a nice picture of the slate-colored subspecies (Junco hyemalis hyemalis), which is what we usually see around here, back on September 27, when they first arrived from up north.
On my way south along the river, the sun had finally reached down over the bluff, and the reflection of the far riverbank off the water was amazing. Here’s a mallard drake dabbling in it.
Best of all, this cold snap has finally brought us our first fancy visitor, a lone redhead drake (Aythya americana), on its way to its wintering grounds south of Lake Michigan. I haven’t seen one in Estabrook since March of 2021, and I sure was glad for another chance at a nice portrait. “Welcome back, Sweetie! Feel free to stick around as long as you like.”
Finally, the ice continues to thicken on the river, and here’s a fascinating formation that occurs along the rapids when a little lip of ice forms and then keeps growing as water keeps splashing over it.
Lastly, I plan on hosting our weekly wildlife walk again tomorrow morning at 8am, and the wind chill is forecast to be up to a balmy +10°F, so dress appropriately and come on out, if you feel up for it.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 