January reaches a high note…

Oh, what a morning we had in Estabrook Park today. The temps at sunrise were in the high twenties, the winds were light, and the sky was crystal clear, so it was an ideal January day. All I needed was for the critters to come out, and I am happy to report that they did a pretty good job at that.

I was looking for the hermit thrush or catbird by the seep at the bottom of stairway nine, where we’ve been seeing them lately, when somehow out of the corner of my eye I saw this amazing creature calmly strolling along the edge of the ice out on the river, perhaps checking to make sure that all the mallards are healthy. Woo hoo!

At first, I tried to get some pictures through the sticks as it moved, but then it paused right in the open, so I could really get a nice portrait. If you click on the image or this link, so you can see the original on flickr and zoom in, you can even see its whiskers and a glint in its eye. I haven’t gotten a coyote picture since December 2023, and I sure hope this means my drought is over, at least for a little while.

Anyway, the catbird stayed out of sight, but the hermit thrush let us have this nice view.

At the far north end, a drake has joined the goldeneye hen we saw there yesterday.

By the pond, a few black-capped chickadees were flitting about, and this one paused for a moment so we could get a nice look. I was just about to ask if it could turn its head a bit to the left, so that the sun would light it up for us, but it was already gone.

There was also a pair of nuthatches excitedly darting from branch to branch, perhaps getting to know each other, and this one picked a fleck of lichen off the bark and held it up for all to see, but I’m not sure that’s gonna impress anyone.

Back at the river, the song sparrow is still kicking around as it waits for the rest of the song sparrows to arrive.

Finally, back at the south end, there was a common merganser drake mixed in with the hens, and they are here much less often than the hens, so they are always a treat for me to see.

Lastly, we saw more than just the one long-eared owl yesterday, and here’s another. Brace yourselves. I expect to milk pictures from that outing for a while, even though they are NOT from Estabrook Park.