The deep freeze continues to deliver…

It was a wonderfully curious or curiously wonderful morning in Estabrook Park, but I’m still not sure which. The forecast temperature was 29°F, but a strong breeze brought the windchill down into the teens, and it felt even colder than that. I should have worn another layer. Also, as you can see below, the sky was clear when the sun came over the bluff to light up the ice on the river, but that didn’t last long, and a thick grey cloud cover soon moved in.

My first surprise for the morning was this redhead drake dabbling with a few mallards in the open water above the falls. He may be the same bird we saw on Sunday or some new arrival, but I didn’t ask, and he didn’t say, so we’ll never know.

My next surprise was spotting our first common mergansers of the season fishing in the open water between the two islands. Sweet! My plan is working perfectly. Here’s the one drake, …

and here are the two hens accompanying him.

I didn’t see anyone new or begging for a picture at the pond, and I could not see the screech owl today, but as I continued south along the river, I was stunned to spot what will probably be our last warbler of the season. The little stinker probably knew it wasn’t supposed to be here, too, and so it did not want any photographic evidence of its tardiness. This one picture I did manage is terrible, but at least you can see the signature yellow patch on its side.

Finally, before these get too old, here’s a winter wren I saw yesterday just before I spotted the screech owl.

Lastly, here’s a red-breasted woodpecker checking out the spindle berries beside the river yesterday soon after I spotted the screech owl.