Plenty to see, despite the snow…

It was warmer than the past few mornings in Estabrook Park today, with temps in the mid to high 20s, but the wind was really blowing at times, and bands of light snow kept drifting through, so I was thrilled when four intrepid nature enthusiasts joined me for our weekly wildlife walk.

Besides many of the regulars, we spotted a couple of tree sparrows and a white-throated sparrow at the pond and a common merganser hen at the river. When we got back to the parking lot, a couple of crows alerted us to a red-tailed hawk perched high and north of the pond, and I thought that would be a wrap, but three of the four wanted to keep going, so we headed south and toward the river again. That’s when the magic started.

I mentioned to the group that previous groups and I had seen a song sparrow in the grass beside the river from time to time, and this turned out to be one of those times. Even better, the elusive little cutie perched in the open right in front of us, and stayed there long enough for everyone to get a good look. “Thanks, sweetie!”

We looked around a bit more in hopes of spotting a winter wren or the hermit thrush I’ve seen there, but didn’t have any luck, so we headed through the woods back up to the pond. On our way, I saw someone flash overhead and thought, from my brief glimpse, that it might be a woodpecker or a robin, but our luck held, and it parked just beyond the path to pick berries. There I could finally see that it was a hermit thrush instead, whom I haven’t seen since last year. “Welcome back, Cutie!”

That brought our bird count up to 22 species, and by then everyone was ready to go home. Amazingly enough, the red-tailed hawk and the two crows that were trying to convince it to move on were right where we left them, so I headed towards them to see if I could get a picture. Well, four’s a crowd, I guess, and the hawk bugged out with two crows in tow, but it gave them the slip somehow. They continued south, and it came right back to the pond to pose for this picture. The dark red eyes and solid red tail feathers make me think it might be the one we’ve seen at the south end before.

As I walked around the pond in hopes of an even better look, I stopped to enjoy the sight of this hairy woodpecker, who had eluded us earlier. Compare his formidable beak to the relatively diminutive one on the downy woodpecker I showed you yesterday. If I’m trying to decide if a bird I’m looking at is one or the other, I find comparing the beak to the head it is on to be a much better guide than simply trying to decide if I’m looking at the bigger bird or the smaller bird.

By the time I was done with Hairy, the hawk had moved on, so I headed back to the river to make my way home. As I looked around to see if there was anyone else to see, look who I found peeking out of a tree and possibly wondering, “how many dang times is this guy gonna walk by today?!?”

Finally, look who I found lurking in the bushes between the path and the river, our first grey catbird of the new year. “Hello, Darling!” We’ve seen them here in the winter a couple of times before, including just last year on almost the same day, but they’re supposed to be wintering someplace warmer for now, and the folks at ebird consider this a “rare” sighting. Yee haw!

I’ll be away on Monday, the 13th, but I hope some of you’ll come out to see some of these amazing critters without me, and I’ll be back for Monday, the 20th. See you then!