It certainly was a nice enough morning in Estabrook Park. Sure, it was cold, at 10°F, but the breeze was pretty light, and the sun shone through at times. The critters, however, mostly kept out of sight. I did see two great horned owls, but the pictures aren’t as great, and I didn’t see any other raptors. I did see plenty of mallards and geese, but all the less-common water fowl must have fled to the lake. Luckily, yesterday was such a stellar day that I still have plenty of pictures left over to fill in for today.
As I just mentioned, I did see two owls, but I like this picture from yesterday better, before the one had moved and the sun came out.
Here are two more of the bluebirds, a male and a female, that were looking for a sip of river water with the one from yesterday.
Here’s a gadwall drake dabbling with the mallards at the far north end yesterday.
By the pond, I watched this nuthatch checking out an old woodpecker hole in a branch of the big oak tree behind the west lawn.
Here it is again doing the classic nuthatch pose.
One of the bigger surprises yesterday was catching a glimpse of this yellow-rumped warbler. It is probably the same bird I glimpsed at the start of the month, but this time the picture, fuzzy as it is, came out a lot better.
Back at the far south end, the red-tailed hawk that we’ve been seeing in that area lately posed perfectly in the sun and against a beautiful blue sky.
Finally, here’s another one of the European starlings filling up on little red fruits.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 